THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS Reviewed by Jamie Peck
Rating: **1/2 (out of ****) Paramount / 1:32 / 1999 / PG-13 (language, sexuality) Cast: Steve Martin; Goldie Hawn; John Cleese; Mark McKinney; Oliver Hudson Director: Sam Weisman Screenplay: Marc Lawrence
They often call it the city that never sleeps, and now they have a reason. In "The Out-of-Towners," a remake of the 1970 Neil Simon original, Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn play the titular travelers who kvetch, flail and mug their way through a seemingly simple stay in the Big Apple that turns into a zany obstacle course. Since New York City of the '90s is friendlier than ever, this ultimate in tourist incompetence - not assorted miscreants, perverts and serial killers - tidily updates every native's worst nightmare. But as every farce enthusiast's dream-come-true, the film falls short. Way short.
So, why the near-endorsement? Because Martin and Hawn, gifted comedians who click both here and in 1992's much better "Housesitter," are capable of turning even the lamest shtick into worthy shenanigans. When their demure Ohio empty-nesters - hungry, strapped for cash and stranded in metropolis for 24 hours - crash a sexaholics meeting for the free pastry, an unoriginal scene racks up a solid laugh quotient. And the movie has a wicked weapon in its casting of John Cleese as a shades-of-Basil Fawlty hotel manager. A sequence that finds him promenading in a frock and stiletto heels to "Bad Girls" might alone be worth the admission price.
Martin and Hawn's non-stop outrageous fortune isn't totally without its moments, just uneven enough to make for strictly scattered success. Mischief like dangling from building balconies, an auto collision at Fulton Fish Market, drug-induced traipsing around Central Park and a spontaneous bout of passion on Tavern on the Green are too obvious to score as intended set-pieces. "The Out-of-Towners" mines far funnier territory when it preys on reliable crises involving rental cars, baggage claim, road maps and monetary shortages. Some even ring true.
A dose of gloppy human emotion accompanies these occasionally diminishing returns, creating a very different tone than the darkly humorous bad luck that befell leads Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis in Simon's "Out-of-Towners." There, Lemmon's impetus for seeing the Empire State was a job interview he didn't necessarily need. Here, Martin has a similar career opportunity awaiting, only this poor schmoe - recently laid-off and keeping secrets from the wife - _must_ nail it. This subplot paves the way for the moment-of-truth as his cover is blown, followed by a loud argument, then a warm reconciliation scene, all unnecessary. You get the idea.
Thanks to these climactic sentimental sidetracks, the film ends on an overt weak note it had otherwise avoided, what with the delight sustained by Martin's dilapidating sense of control, Hawn's absurd antics, Cleese's impressive leg hikes and the sporadic hits in the hit-or-miss gag ratio. "The Out-of-Towners" ultimately lets its assets down even further with a whimpering finale, and as a result, some viewers are likely to develop a reaction parallel to its much-maligned setting: Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
© 1999 Jamie Peck E-mail: jpeck1@gl.umbc.edu Visit The Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/ "Here it is at last, the first 150-minute trailer. ‘Armageddon' is cut together like its own highlights. Take almost any 30 seconds at random, and you'd have a TV ad. The movie is an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained. No matter what they're charging to get in, it's worth more to get out." -Roger Ebert on "Armageddon"
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