MANNEQUIN TWO: ON THE MOVE
A film review by Roger Snappy Rubio
Copyright 1991 Roger Snappy Rubio
MANNEQUIN TWO: ON THE MOVE Starring: Kristy Swanson, William Ragsdale, Terry Kiser, Stuart Pankin, and Meshach Taylor as "Hollywood" Produced by Edward Rugoff Directed by Stewart Raffill
MANNEQUIN ON THE MOVE (which is its title; MANNEQUIN TWO was its advertising title to let people know that this movie is a sequel) is the story of a young prince and a peasant girl who, about one thousand years ago, fell hopelessly in love with each other, much to the princes' mother's dismay. As punishment for falling in love with peasantry, the prince's mother has a sorcerer cast a spell on the peasant girl, which is enforced by a necklace she wears around her neck. It cannot be removed by anyone for a thousand years, and if she is to become human again after that period of time, she must find true love at the end of it. Her story eventually becomes a legend which no one really believes, except for the great-great-great-(and a lot of other greats) grandson of the sorcerer, who just happens to look just like his great-great-great- (and so on) grandfather. The now "Enchanted Peasant Girl," who now closely resembles a mannequin, is the center of a show for foreign fashions at Prince & Co. (fans of the original MANNEQUIN will recognize this store); a store at which a young man, who just happens to look exactly like the prince the peasant girl fell in love with a thousand years ago, is a trainee. Hence the story. It is really hard to articulate the plot without making it seem ridiculous. But that is what it is supposed to be...ridiculous. No one would go to see a structured, intelligent, epic love story about a man who was a prince in a past life and a woman who has been on ice for the last ten centuries. Where would be the fun in that?
This movie is a formulaic, run-of-the-mill, and probably studio- controlled movie that the studio believes the people want to see. Since the story is about two people who have already fallen in love, the audience doesn't get the same feeling as the first movie, where the two are in the process (really) of falling in love. The first also provided for more funny scenes, because Jonathan Switcher (Andrew McCarthy) was the only one who could see Emmy (Kim Catrall) alive. Everyone else saw her as a mannequin. In this movie, the mannequin is played by Kristy Swanson, and she alternates between humanness and mannequinness (due to the necklace she wears, whether it is on or off). In the first movie, Switcher is an unappreciated artist who finally gets a break at Prince & Co. by getting a great job and a beautiful woman. I got no sense of anything like that in this movie. I got the feeling that this movie is just "there" for anybody that wants it.
Maybe it was just me, but Kristy Swanson didn't really come across as a woman who was transplanted from the Tenth Century into the Twentieth. Maybe, because of pathological Hollywood stereotyping, I was hoping for or expecting some kind of accent (after all, she did come from a foreign land). Swanson is not at all hard to look at (she's very attractive, in my humble opinion), but she did not convince me very well that she was a foreigner in a different time and place. I don't know if she is a good actress or not; I've only seen her in FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, as Simone (correct spelling?), the girl who told that history teacher what she heard about Ferris Bueller ("My best friends' sisters' boyfriends' brothers' girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with a girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious."). William Ragsdale was, on the whole, average.
Meshach Taylor, however, was great. Taylor plays the character of "Hollywood" in both films. I loved him in the first one, and in this one, he's toned down a little bit, but he is still as funny as ever. I heard somewhere that the gay community did not like the character of "Hollywood" at all from the first film, and I think maybe that's why he is toned down in this one, but otherwise he is hilarious. I think he makes the entire movie. He gets to play another character briefly in this one (I won't say who). I think this is good; it shows that Meshach Taylor doesn't just play "Hollywood."
This movie has a different director, casting agency, and three new writers (Edward Rugoff is the fourth, and the only original writer returning). I have always been cautious about movies with four writers (if one or two couldn't get it together, why should three or four); movies of the type I mean are movies like SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL and TWINS, both of which had four writers. They weren't exactly bad movies, but they weren't that great either. In my experience, movies with two writers have always fared better than others, but that may just be coincidental. I am especially cautious of movies with overhauled film crews (like this one). The sequels that have done as well or better than their predecessors have usually been the ones that bring back the crew that made the first one successful. When a whole new crew makes a sequel to a successful movie, I start hearing the cries of blasphemy from the down-trodden fans of the original. Don't get me wrong, these "blasphemers" occasionally do a good job, but it nevertheless makes fans cautious. In this movie, only a skeleton of the original crew is present. But as I am writing this review on the day it premieres nationwide, I may be forced to eat my words--who knows.
If I were paranoid, I would say that this movie is insulting to my very intelligence. But since I'm not, I'll say that this movie is just something you can go see without having to really think about anything. It's not that great compared to the first one, but it is not that bad either. It's sort of a "fuzzy carbon copy" of the first one. If I were to give a recommendation of some sort, I would say to go see it if for nothing else but Meshach Taylor. I thought he was hilarious in the first movie, and even though he doesn't have as many funny lines in this one, it's worth seeing just for him. And if you liked Kristy Swanson from the very small role she played in FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, I'm sure you will not be disappointed by the way she looks in this one.
THE SNAPMAN
rsnappy@hydra.unm.edu
(Roger Rubio)
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