HOUSESITTER
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1992 Frank Maloney
HOUSESITTER is a film directed by Frank Oz and written by Mark Stein. It stars Steve Martin, Goldie Hawn, and Dana Delany, with Richard B. Shull, Laurel Cronin, Julie Harris, and Donald Moffat. Rated PG, for mature humor, mild profanity.
HOUSESITTER gives us a one-joke movie that is amusing and entertaining without actually being anything particularly memorable. We have Goldie Hawn in her best role in 20 years as the gifted liar Gwen (Steve Martin's Newton says, "You're the Ernest Hemmingway of bullsh*tters!"); I hereby officially and publicly forgive her for BIRD ON A WIRE. She is funny and endearing without being silly, stupid, or reminding us of her bimbette persona from "Laugh-In". Steve Martin as the architect who becomes her victim and her partner in her fantasies has a couple of good set pieces in which he gets to amuse us by thoroughly embarrassing us -- the gawkiest seduction you've ever squirmed through and a reluctant crooning of a lullaby in a very un-lullaby-ish setting. Then there's Dana Delany (from "China Beach") who plays Newton's love object, Becky; Becky is a second banana and introduces a twist on her character at the last moment that doesn't seem particularly well set up, but Delany appears to an acceptable movie presence.
Characterization is the most common problem in Hollywood comedies, and this one has its share. The plot is mechanical and completely predictable, so the interest ought to devolve to the characters, but I found them mostly either undeveloped or incompletely so. Gwen is the most fully developed and in that sense this is Hawn's movie more than Martin's, although they do seem to work well together. We see Gwen working her fantasies and we are given a reason for them and for her actions; it's not exactly a rigorous analysis, but any attempt to give a third dimension to her character is welcome. Martin's Newton is more problematic. We are told repeatedly that he is a dreamer, a fantasizer, a wild and crazy guy, as it were, but what I see is someone thoroughly pedestrian and little inept socially; it's not that he dreams, he merely assumes facts not in evidence. He supposed to have a complicated relationship with his father (Donald Moffat), but it's mostly an excuse for Gwen to weave some of her lies and benignly ensnare some more victims. Julie Harris plays Newton's mother, but it could have been played by just about any middle-aged white woman; one of the great actors of the American theater is completely wasted here.
There are two really fine supporting performances by Richard B. Shull and Laurel Cronin as a pair of crazed street people who are recruited to play Gwen's parents. They give their small parts their all and their all is very fine indeed.
As for the plot, if you've ever seen CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT you've seen a funnier, faster, and more frantic version of HOUSESITTER. This movie could have been paced a bit faster and I would not have minded a bit. It doesn't quite drag, but it does slow down from time to time. It probably doesn't live up to its comedic possibilities and could do with a touch more confusion and chaos. Frank Oz might have turned to the screwball comedies of the 30s for a model that would have served us all better.
This is Martin's third movie with Oz (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS). When Oz turns Martin loose, he does it with great pacing. Oz also gets a lot of atmospheric effects out of the Massachusetts towns, Concord and Cohassett, which provide the kind of scenery that is almost too lovely to be real. So far I find myself being mostly of two minds about Oz's films (although LITTLE SHOP is nearly perfect). They seem to be nice, little movies, nothing that really sticks to the craw or one remembers without a prod or two. SCOUNDRELS was mostly unable to live up to its trailer, but there's always the possibility that I'm not hip enough to really get it. WHAT ABOUT BOB I thought was mostly silly and irritating that failed to stretch or challenge its stars.
So, that's pretty much what have here, a nice little movie that challenges neither its stars or its audience over much, neither does it really insult anyone. I doubt that many of us will remember having seen it a year from now.
If you go to HOUSESITTER, and I don't know why you shouldn't, go to a discount matinee. That's about the right price.
-- Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney .
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