Reviews

Sandler plays a jeweler who's constantly in hot water, mainly because he's a degenerate gambler (to use a common phrase), and he lies constantly. It's fascinating, but frustrating, to see him trying to get out of his many jams. I kept rooting for him, "Don't give that creep a valuable opal with no security," etc. (Side issue: is that what opals look like direct from the ground?)

So it's exhausting to follow all the twists and turns of Sandler's evasive maneuvers. He plays the part totally straight (not for humor), and he's 100% professional and acceptable in the part. Likewise all the other actors. I enjoyed the movie, but I would never watch it again -- too hard on the nerves.

Also, the most annoying musical score I've heard in a very long time.

This is beyond a feel-good movie, this is a "stand up and cheer" movie. But of all the many good things about this movie, I want to concentrate on one.

I saw the movie years ago when it was new, and I didn't particularly pay attention to Ralph Macchio's performance. But re-watching it, I am struck by what a nuanced, subtle performance he gives. He doesn't overact, he never goes over the top. He's always perfectly modulated, natural and honest.

For instance, I liked the scene where he and his pal first go into their prison cell. I was expecting some big statement, maybe ironic, philosophical, or in despair. But Macchio sighs. And not a heavy sigh, just a plain sigh. Understated and subtle. That just rang true to me.

Another scene that impressed me was when the two guys have been exonerated, and Macchio is hugging Vinny. He is definitely about to cry -- just on the verge of bursting into tears. But no tears appear. How does an actor play "just on the verge of bursting into tears, but no tears"? I don't know, but Macchio does it, and it's very clear.

I would put Macchio's work in this movie in the category of "understated, honest brilliance."

P. S. A quibble: how come nobody in this movie can pronounce "accessory"? They all say "assessory." That bugs me.

I enjoyed this movie and have watched it several times. It has an interesting story line and holds the interest. I would call it a fairly mild family drama and crime drama, rather than a comedy, though it does have comic elements -- for instance: Ted: How'd you get so smart? Macauley: I don't know. It sure doesn't run in the family.

I like the way Glenne Headley, a rookie in the detective department, talks in that meek, mousey voice, and yet she's always right and she cracks the whole crime. And her partner demeans and disparages everything she says -- that seems true to life.

Hector Elizondo has a nice turn as the detectives' boss; he's not a martinet; he's a reasonable man and gives them leeway to explore their theories.

Somehow I couldn't quite believe Ted Danson as a career criminal. He doesn't seem mean and immoral enough. But he did a good job nevertheless. (Hated his pony tail!)

Great ending -- Macaulay, who has outsmarted the adults all the way along, does it one more time. I like the way he brings a moral element into the matter, refusing to condone theft.

I would call this a feel-good movie, with less over-the-top slapstick than the Home Alone series.

This could have been a pretty good movie, if they hadn't tried to make it funny. Because they failed.

The plot has the elements of a good caper movie where the thieves try to backstab one another after the job. But the, lowbrow comedic elements (and guttersnipe cursing) detract from rather than add to the story. I used to watch old movies from the 30's with people like Roscoe Ates (who did stuttering shtick), and I thought, "I'm SO glad stuttering is no longer considered inherently funny. But I was premature.

One perfect barometer of this movie: you just KNEW, when you saw Kevin Kline start to eat French fries (excuse me -- chips) that he would smack, slurp and slobber like a pig sucking slop. Because that's inherently funny too.

I laughed once, when that big block of concrete fell onto the dog (much like the huge weight on Monty Python).

At one point , some character says something like, "You're a complete vulgarian, aren't you?" Yes, this movie is.

I enjoy this movie and have watched it several times (free on Amazon Prime). The colorful characters and some snappy dialog are what attracts me. The mystery aspects and especially Rod LaRocque's cheesy foreign accent (used in a few scenes) are not.

I like Astrid Allwyn as the young, eager girl-Friday-wannabe-- slightly ditsy, but not outlandishly so. She gets off some good lines, like this: Waiter: More caviar, madame? Astrid Allwyn: Oh, no! If I eat any more of that buckshot, I'll pass out!

Lew Hearn as Moe is a colorful character. He bails out Cranston, and standing outside the cell, Cranston asks how much he owes him. Moe says something like, "Is this a place to talk business? It'll be on your bill."

Thomas E. Jackson is enjoyable as always, as a gruff, put-upon police commissioner. I remember him as the gruff, put-upon editor in "Nancy Drew, Reporter."

And Peter Potter is memorable as Cranston's assistant, with that sleepy-sounding Oklahoma drawl of his.

The mystery, the safe-cracking Honest John, and all that, is not to be dismissed, though there are some corny aspects of the plot. But all in all I like this movie and will no doubt watch it again.

The plot elements of this movie, in my mind, take second place to the repartee, or verbal fencing, that takes place among various characters. One character is always needling another; each tries to top the others in snarky insults. I suppose this is where the "comedy" label comes from.

For instance, there's the repartee among the various reporters on Robert Armstrong's newspaper. Cupid Ainsworth (a large fat woman) comes in, saying she's late because "I couldn't find a cab." Armstrong responds, "You mean you couldn't find one to fit you."

Ainsworth gives as good as she gets, however. When Armstrong comes back into the office after being bawled out by his wife, she says, "Well, well, well! Here comes the lion with the lamb's haircut!" (Ainsworth gives a very memorable performance in this movie, in my opinion.)

When Armstrong goes into the editor's office to get bawled out, Ainsworth cries, "Hold on boys, we're going around a curve!" (To me, that was better than Bette Davis' famous line, "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night!")

Tom Kennedy is in the movie, playing a cop. (I always think of Kennedy as Gahagan, from the Torchy Blane movies.) Armstrong refers to Kennedy as "Flatfoot," and he growls, "Lay off the puppies!"

Armstrong and his even-more-drunken buddy get into a battle of wits in a speakeasy with members of a drug-dealing gang. Armstrong says, "I recently heard of two hop-slingers who were punished by being put in a barrel with a skunk. Fortunately, the skunk died." His buddy responds, "He was probably bored to death by their repartee."

I think this movie has a quite adult sensibility as regards inter-personal relationships and conversation. (Adult meaning "adult," not "dirty.") It's not a Pollyanna or Hollywood sensibility -- there's friction and oneupmanship among various characters. That makes a refreshing change. Kennedy's cop role is also more adult than his slapstick-ish Gahagan roles. I like the whole tone and atmosphere of this movie.

I always enjoy seeing Armstrong, who is perhaps best known as the impresario who brought King Kong back from his island. He was a quite prolific actor, and always interesting.

George ("Gabby") Hayes is also here briefly, and I'm always fascinated to see him in a movie, beardless and in an adult, not slapstick-ish role.

In the end, the murder is pinned on the actual perpetrator (yay!), and Armstrong and his wife are reconciled. I like a movie with a happy ending, and to see justice is done.

This movie, to me, is enjoyable, adult, and fun every time I see it.

Lord, what a dreary movie they made out of so much good talent! This is a dreary, depressing movie on a dreary subject (she's married to one, loves a different one, so they all talk, talk, talk...).

The mood is somber and dreary. The talk-talk-talk is dreary. The music is absolutely funereal.

One of the main characters was severely wounded in the war (I might say, drearily wounded in the war). His problem is, he has no further will to live. Neither will you, perhaps, once you watch this movie.

And look who they had available. First and foremost, they had Ann Harding, who epitomizes class for me -- cool and elegant in movies like "The Animal Kingdom." They had Brian Aherne -- so likable and amusing in entertaining movies like "Merrily We Live" or "A Night To Remember" or "My Sister Eileen." They had Jean Hersholt, who does the honest, salt-of-the-earth character so well as Dr. Christian, or as the husband in "Emma." They had Paul Lukas, a fine actor who played the German or generic foreigner in so many movies -- more likable than sinister, usually.

And they made of this a dreary 83-minute dirge.

I enjoy most Wheeler and Woolsey movies, especially "Diplomaniacs." This is a good, representative sample of their work. I think it has an interesting plot, revolving around gangsters trying to steal jewels from our heroes' hotel safe. (As Irving Thalberg taught the Marx Brothers, just a lot of jokes and funny dialog isn't enough in a movie; there has to be a story driving it all, to keep the public's interest.)

I enjoyed many of the bits of funny dialog made in passing, like these:

When Wheeler first meets Dorothy Lee, he says, "My name is Wilbur." She responds, "I don't mind."

While Wheeler is enchanted with Dorothy Lee, Woolsey is thinking of marrying the battle-axe mother. Someone says to him at one point, "I hope you do marry her mother, and she falls on you."

A minor point: I enjoyed seeing Stanley Fields, who is always fun. He's the gruff-talking character actor who generally played gangsters and thugs, as he did for example in "Little Caesar," where he played Sam Vettori, head of the mob Edward G. Robinson joins. I also enjoyed seeing Hugh Herbert, though he has very little to do here.

All in all, a pretty satisfying joke-and-drama fest.

This is my favorite W.C. Fields movie, and that is not meant to diminish any of his others. But this one really hits the spot, for me.

This is one of Fields' "the worm turns" movies, where the put-upon, harried head of household finally becomes a hero and gains the respect and admiration of his family.

It has multitudes of little comic touches along the way -- like Fields first calling the neighborhood patrol to kick out the "burglars singing in the cellar," then getting into a drinking and singing session with them. It has droll touches like Fields growling, "Get your filthy hands off!" as the crook turns the applejack tap for him.

Fields is VERY put-upon in this movie. His wife nags and berates him unmercifully. His hatchet-faced mother-in-law is one of the most hateable examples of the type I've seen. You should see the looks she gives Fields and his daughter at the breakfast table (where she's stuffing her son with every cooked morsel, while Fields manages to get a couple of pieces of cold toast, and his daughter has to struggle to get the sugar bowl). That Medusa could turn people to stone with her hatchet-faced, baleful stare.

The son-in-law is also very hateable -- spoiled, lazy, ungrateful, loafing on the couch, disdainful of Fields and laughing at him when he gets thrown in jail for making applejack. It's really satisfying when this lout gets his comeuppance! (He's played by Grady Sutton, who's always fun to watch, even when cast as a no-goodnik as he is here.) The officious brown-noser at Fields' place of employment, who gets Fields fired for skipping work to see the wrestling match with Hookalakah Meshobbab (Cockalocka Mishabobb?), is also somewhat hateable, and it's nice to see him put in his place.

But the scene where "the worm turns," where Fields finally decks his son-in-law and takes a roundhouse swing at the old battleaxe, is priceless. Very satisfying! Mary Brian is lovely and endearing as the loving daughter, and Carlotta Monti is brave, loyal and quite fiery, when she defends Fields' behavior at the wrestling match: "What did you expect me to do -- stand there like a dummy while my boss was dying in the gutter?" (Or words to that effect.)

A good time will be had by all who watch this movie. It's satisfying and droll, and as I said, it's my Favorite Fields Film.

When I first saw this movie, I was quite surprised that I had never even heard of such a masterful work before. It is worth watching again and again.

The story begins just as World War I ends, and it's about a group of pilots from that war. As I see it (perhaps adding some interpretation here), these pals saw enough death, misery and bloodshed in the war to last them a lifetime. In reaction, they attempt to create their own childlike, innocent world, where hate and meanness have no place.

This world consists of just the bunch of them, going to bars, drinking, making facetious banter, joking and talking in non-sequitors. They're a lot like college students, really.

One recurring flippancy is this: whenever one of them has to go to the bathroom, he makes up an outlandish task he's headed for, like "I've got to go see a man about a Chinese horse" or something -- I can't remember a specific one right now.

Helen Chandler fits in well with the group and their innocent world. As another reviewer has said, she seems fragile herself, and she gets right into the spirit of their banter. Her memorable joke is: whenever somebody starts reciting a long list of ANYTHING, she always says, "I'll take vanilla" (as if they were reciting ice-cream flavors, you see).

But this innocent, harmless world can't last. The mean, dirty real world keeps breaking in. There's an outsider, who lusts after Helen Chandler and attaches himself parasitically to the group. He eventually causes them great trouble. Also, one of the group gets gored to death by a bull.

One way or another, the real world breaks up this happy group. Yet at the end there's hope for a better world for at least some of the group.

(I was greatly taken with Johnny Mack Brown in this movie, as in some others I have seen. He's not just a cowboy star, but a fine actor.)

This movie will make you feel much dirtier for having watched it. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a rating of about 10 showers for how dirty it makes you feel. It is violent, stupid, ill-conceived, manipulative and nasty on so many levels!

The movie is a sort of "Falling Down" story, morphed into Goldthwait's insane murder fantasy with a high body count. There's no discernible humor in it. It's just so insanely violent, filthy, politicized, amateurish and ham-fisted that I wonder how it ever got made in the first place.

Goldthwait opens up his mind and lets it flow across the screen like a sewer. There are lots of sermons and crude agitprop in this one; Goldthwait never misses any opportunity to mount his soapbox.

His main agitprop maneuver is to confound personal bad qualities -- like the guy who belligerently parks across two parking spaces -- with right-wing politics, making them out to be one and the same. It's a hoary gimmick, dating back to at least "Jew Süss," the Nazi movie that equated being a child-beating, overbearing father with being Jewish.

When I see the praise lavished on this horrifying dreck by ordinary viewers, it makes me think our country is as stupid, loud, mean and shallow as Goldthwait says it is.

This mix of politicized agitprop with insane random violence could be a combo of Michael Moore and Quentin Tarantino on a really bad day.

Other reviewers have covered main topics like plot, cast, etc. I'd just like to comment on some incidentals I enjoyed.

Cagney always uses such colorful language, as he does in this movie. When a fat man stands on Cagney's foot in an elevator (and I mean STANDS on it for several seconds) Cagney gets mad. Loretta Young tries to calm him down, and Cagney bursts out, "Over nothing?!? What do you expect me to do -- let a big hippo like that plant his clod-hoppers all over me?"

Incidentally, the elevator scene showed a good lesson for all would-be hat-wearers today. Young has to remind Cagney to take his hat off in the elevator -- a necessity of etiquette then, as was taking your hat off indoors, when you got where you were going. People who wear hats today, should wear hats like people who know HOW to wear hats.

Leila Bennett -- some people don't appreciate her flavor of humor, but I get a big kick out of her. She drones on and on in that adenoidal, nasal monotone, completely oblivious to whether anyone's listening or not. In fact, Cagney asks her at one point to button her lip, and Bennett just drawls, "Oh, I ain't said much," and goes on with her story. She's just droll and comical because of her personality. (In the restaurant, she says, "Well, the fish died an unnatural death. It isn't fit to eat -- even in a restaurant.")

And say -- isn't Buck Gerard a nasty, low-life villain! He's abominable! On Cagney's wedding night, he says, "I bet you HAD to marry the bim" (i.e., bimbo).

Little touches enliven this movie throughout -- like Cagney throwing his hat into Young's apartment when she's mad at him, to see if she'll leave it in or throw it back out. Charming incidentals add to the richness of the mosaic. (How poetical!)