GUN SHY
Review by John Beachem
* * * 1/2
Directed by: Eric Blakeney Written by: Eric Blakeney
If there's one thing Sandra Bullock desperately needs, it's a decent script to get her career restarted. After a series of flops ("Speed 2", "Forces of Nature"), she needs a good script with a good costar. Well, "Gun Shy" is a rather entertaining script, and she has the always great Liam Neeson as her costar, but there are two serious problems: First, the film was released at what could be the worst possible time, the same weekend as "Scream 3. Second, Sandra Bullock appears in perhaps six scenes throughout the film. Everyone finished gasping in disbelief? That's right folks, despite what the previews may have led you to believe, "Gun Shy" is hardly a romantic comedy because there is seldom a female presence. The thing is, the film might be better as a result.
Charlie Mayough (Liam Neeson) is an undercover DEA officer who is on his last assignment before retirement. The problem is, he can't bring himself complete the assignment unless he constantly attends group therapy to keep his nerves under control. Charlie's final assignment involves catching illegal funds on a group of mafia types, led by the uptight Fulvio (Oliver Platt). As a result of Charlie's nerves, he's having another problem, which involves his, uh, bowles. Well, he visits a proctologist named Jane (Sandra Bullock), who promises she can fix all his anxiety problems in two weeks by dating him.
It's not very often that a romantic subplot feels quite so tacked on as it does here. Bullock's character serves absolutely no purpose, other than to give Charlie occasional words of encouragment and to solve his prostatic difficulties. In fact, if her character had been eliminated entirely and more of the film had focused on Oliver Platt and his cohorts, this probably would have been a much better film. Speaking of Oliver Platt, he is a riot as a hit man who hates being made up entirely of cliches. The truth is, Oliver Platt makes this movie. Liam Neeson may be a great actor, but he isn't given much to work with here. Platt, on the other hand, is given some truly great scenes. For example, near the start of the film, Platt is seated across from a neighbor, telling him that in the Middle East they chop the hands off thieves. He then prepares to do this to the neighbor for reasons we're not quite sure of, but it's hysterical when we find out.
Charlie's sessions with his therapy group are fairly amusing, particularly when he runs into one of them while on assignment. Unfortunately, any other time when Oliver Platt is not on screen, things tend to drag some. We're also introduced to someone that may possibly be the most irritating character I've seen in years. Jason (I believe played by Andrew Lauer) is a big time wallstreet dealer, who shows up to invest the gangsters' money. He is about five foot ten, has an obnoxious, high pitched voice, and laughs insanely at everything. After seeing him on screen for about ten minutes, I really wanted to kill this character with my bare hands. I was tempted to knock a half star off my rating simply because he was present. The other supporting characters, while certainly eccentric, are more amusing than annoying. Watch for an appearance by Mitch Pileggi, of X-Files fame, as Charlie's boss. The funny thing is, it's almost the exact same character he plays in "The X-Files".
One last thing I must note is that I had a very hard time imagining a beautiful proctologist going out with one of her patients right after attending to him. I had an even harder time believing that Charlie could have made it through the first date without constantly thinking about everything she had seen. "Gun Shy" is obviously not an incredible comedy. It is, however, an amusing, harmless little comedy that has has a lot of chuckles and a few true belly laughs. The film may only run 100 minutes, but things do tend to drag a bit by the end, which is drawn out well past what is needed. I'd recommend the film to fans of Liam Neeson and Oliver Platt, but not to fans of Sandra Bullock, since there isn't much of her in it. I give it three and a half out of five stars.
Comments? Feel free to e-mail them to: johnbeachem@dependentfilms.net
For past reviews, movie news, and other fun stuff, visit: www.dependentfilms.net
* * * * * - One of the greatest movies ever made, see it now. * * * * - Great flick. Try and catch this one. * * * - Okay movie, hits and misses. * * - Pretty bad. See it if you've got nothing better to do. * - One of the worst movies ever. See it only if you enjoy pain.
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