AMOS AND ANDREW
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Date Released: 3/5/93 Running Length: 1:39 Rated: PG-13 (Language, mature themes)
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Dabney Coleman,
Michael Learner, Margaret Colin
Director: Max Frye
Producer: Gary Goetzman
Screenplay: Max Frye
Music: Richard Gibbs
Released by Castle Rock (under Columbia Pictures)
Andrew (Samuel L. Jackson) is a black Pulitzer Prize-winning author/activist (with a personality loosely based on Spike Lee) who has just moved into a house in a wealthy, predominantly-white neighborhood. When a couple of nosy neighbors (Michael Learner, Margaret Colin) believe him to be a burglar, they call the police. Led by an inept chief (Dabney Coleman), the cops proceed to trap and nearly kill Andrew in his own house. For damage control, the chief calls in Amos (Nicolas Cage) from the town jail. The deal: if Amos pretends to hold Andrew hostage (thus making it look like all of Andrew's problems were caused by Amos, not the police), he can go free.
There's a lot to talk about regarding AMOS AND ANDREW. The film contains social commentary, stereotype role reversals, satire of a number of American "institutions," and an almost-manic performance by Nick Cage. However, over and above all, this is a very funny movie. Unlike most comedies, it is consistently amusing, except perhaps in the concluding ten-to-fifteen minutes, when it runs out of gas.
First-time director Max Frye shows that he can tell a story with pictures as well as with words. His debut, working with his own script, is impressive. The veteran screenwriter previously penned the early-eighties film SOMETHING WILD, which had much of the same unbridled action and craziness present in AMOS AND ANDREW. While Frye is no Jonathan Demme (director of SOMETHING WILD), he knows what will work on screen.
A film of this sort, which bases some of its humor on racist attitudes and stereotypes, could easily have been offensive. It isn't, because Frye turns all of these elements upside down. Racists like Phil, Judy, and the police chief are shown to be complete idiots (not since Joe Pesci's character in HOME ALONE has there been a bigger clod than Coleman's officer). Also, going against the Hollywood grain, it's Cage who plays the down-on-his-luck poor guy with all the zany one-liners, and Jackson who's the smart, wealthy, educated, straight-as-an-arrow citizen.
AMOS AND ANDREW makes fun of all sides. The police are portrayed as bumbling idiots and there are a few scenes involving them that could have been extracted from a Monty Python movie. Also receiving a satirical roasting are the Al Sharpton-type activist/preachers. Now, admittedly, these two groups are not difficult to poke fun at, but they are not Frye's only targets, and what he does with them, he does well.
Amidst all of the lunacy and well-timed physical humor, AMOS AND ANDREW still has an opportunity to get across its simple social message about the perceptions of the Black Man by too much of White America. The movie certainly doesn't hammer the audience over the head with the point, but you would have to be terminally dimwitted to miss it. The jokes, puns, and satire of AMOS AND ANDREW are effective because they underline, rather than undermine, that premise.
The greatest problem with AMOS AND ANDREW is a fault that numerous other movies are guilty of: a poor ending. With about ten to fifteen minutes left, the film starts to fray at the edges. It probably should have ended earlier, because the last few scenes are no longer funny, and are something of a let-down following the upbeat energy that characterized the rest of the picture.
There is a brief and rather insignificant post-credit scene for those who enjoy looking out for such things. As director/writer Frye puts it, "One more yuck for your buck." This last scene was among the least amusing of the movie's jokes, however, and not worth staying to watch if that's your sole reason for sitting through the credits.
So, while AMOS AND ANDREW may not be a master of traditional movie strengths, it presents a couple of characters the audience can grow to like in a number of utterly outrageous situations. The film gets its laughs at the expense of a lot of different groups and people, but never in a manner that trivializes the issues it represents. Equally as important, the jokes, most of which are funny, keep coming. This is one of the most genuinely funny pictures to come along in a while.
Rating: 8.5 (A-, ***)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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