I can certainly understand why this film went straight to video as it is a sitcom like script and an old fashioned style a screwball comedy that has been going on since the 1930's. It is also the pairing of opposites, Emma Sams (AKA Holly Sutton, Fallon Carrington) and Cheech Marin, the oddest couple ever on screen, and I'll give Emma credit for looking like she's having an absolute blast, at times seeming like she's trying to hold in the laughter. But then, then character she's playing breaks down laughing, and you know the stage is set for a retread of "My Man Godfrey" where William Powell suddenly becomes similar to Ricky Ricardo. Samms shows great comic prowess, and confirms to me why she was one of the most delightful soap opera actresses of the '80s.
I've always said that Cheech Marin is a comic with a lot of hearts, and after having recently seen "Born in East L. A." confirmed that. Heiress Samms is involved with someone her wealthy father doesn't approve of, so she pretends to break up with him and start dating Marin, getting him to act so crass and obnoxious that anyone would look good in comparison. But father realizes the hoax and this leads to delightful confusion that could easily have made this nearly as good as "Arthur".
Marin's genuine character here isn't as classless as he comes off to Samm's family, but once he gets going, there's no stopping him. The problem is that the idea of a romance between the two doesn't seem feasibly possible in any way so they're really isn't away the plot can be realistically resolved. That means that you have to depend on a series of hysterical gags (one involving a nearly frozen cake microwave and a pinata), and you find enough here to enjoy to make this an enjoyable time passer.
In another sense, this is the type of slobs versus the snobs movie that was reworked into a religious comedy where Vegas showgirl Whoopi Goldberg brought fun into a convent. Watching Marin getting these stuffy Australian aristocrats to learn how to party and enjoy doing so becomes a great deal of fun, and ironically it's the servants who look on him with snobbishness, not the uppercrust. But when they insult him as some sort of novelty that will wear off, it really brings out the heart of the situation, and shows the difference between class and crass.
I've always said that Cheech Marin is a comic with a lot of hearts, and after having recently seen "Born in East L. A." confirmed that. Heiress Samms is involved with someone her wealthy father doesn't approve of, so she pretends to break up with him and start dating Marin, getting him to act so crass and obnoxious that anyone would look good in comparison. But father realizes the hoax and this leads to delightful confusion that could easily have made this nearly as good as "Arthur".
Marin's genuine character here isn't as classless as he comes off to Samm's family, but once he gets going, there's no stopping him. The problem is that the idea of a romance between the two doesn't seem feasibly possible in any way so they're really isn't away the plot can be realistically resolved. That means that you have to depend on a series of hysterical gags (one involving a nearly frozen cake microwave and a pinata), and you find enough here to enjoy to make this an enjoyable time passer.
In another sense, this is the type of slobs versus the snobs movie that was reworked into a religious comedy where Vegas showgirl Whoopi Goldberg brought fun into a convent. Watching Marin getting these stuffy Australian aristocrats to learn how to party and enjoy doing so becomes a great deal of fun, and ironically it's the servants who look on him with snobbishness, not the uppercrust. But when they insult him as some sort of novelty that will wear off, it really brings out the heart of the situation, and shows the difference between class and crass.