SWITCHING CHANNELS
A film review by John R. Mellby
Copyright 1988 John R. Mellby
Although it was not highly publicized, the new comedy SWITCHING CHANNELS had a (not so) sneak preview last night. It stars Burt Reynolds, Christopher Reeves, and Kathleen Turner. I went, really expecting to be disappointed by a star-vehicle, and found myself enjoying it immensely! This is not sophisticated comedy, and I found myself comparing it more or less to a modern version of the 50s-60s love-comedy movies. All the characters are rather broad, if not blatant, caricatures, but the actors did a good enough job, that the characters worked.
The main story is a love triangle. (Why is it that everyone in a movie is involved in a love triangle and I have never known anyone in real life who was in a love triangle? Don't I hang out with the right kind of people?)
Kathleen Turner is a TV anchorperson. She is concerned, intense, and very involved with her job.
Christopher Reeves is rich, easy-going, and just a little self-centered, although this isn't immediately obvious. Turner meets Reeves on vacation and decides to marry him, and move to NYC where Reeves has gotten her a job as a morning talk-show host (the assumption in the film is that a talk-show host is a real WIMP of a job for a hard-hitting newsperson).
Her ex-husband, Burt Reynolds, is her boss. He plays one of his stock characters, which he does very well. He is the good-old-boy, lovable scalliwag. He does outrageous things in a way that let me ignore the fact that they were totally silly, such as rushing to one of his gofers and shouting "Call the Airlines! Book every seat between here and New York for the next 24 hours!" Reynolds keeps trying to do things to separate Reeves and win Turner back for himself. The badinage between Reeves and Reynolds, especially when they first meet was very good.
As a backdrop, and parallel plot, Artie Johnson is about to be electrocuted for shooting a cop who sold his son drugs. This is part of the comedy. Really!
A race for Governor is going on (in Illinois) and the crooked politician is on the LAW-and-ORDER platform, trying to win the race by getting the man electrocuted. All the political characters are charicatures, whether it is the Chicago-machine politician, the upscale-rich-and-cannot-think-for-himself Governor, or the prison warden, who is guilty of so many crimes that he is jerked backwards and forwards by practically everyone.
Along the way they do a send-up of everyone in the news business, from the brainless-blond announcer, to the vulture-reporters (who would just LOVE to film an electrocution live), to the accuracy of their reporting.
Anyway, if you are willing to suspend your disbelief over the impossibilities, this should prove to be an excellent movie. This is not HIGH ART, but it has good characters, and a lot of humor. They even throw in some tension, and a few chases for your $5. Go see this one if you like basic comedies.
John R. Mellby Texas Instruments, Dallas CSNET: jmellby%ngstl1@eg.ti.com
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