WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? RATING: 3/10
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PLOT: A thief who gets caught breaking into the house of a billionaire = consequently gets his own ring stolen by the same man whose house he = broke into. The robber then decides to make it his mission in life to = get the ring back. Hilarity is supposed to ensue...=20
CRITIQUE: Here's a movie that's just not very funny, entertaining, interesting or = original in any way, shape or form. It's definitely not the worst movie = that I've ever seen, in fact, it's probably not even the worst movie = that I've seen this year (that honor is still holding firm at HEADS OVER = HEELS), but it's one of those movies which has you coming out of the = theatre and wondering why it was ever made in the first place. I mean, = if it wasn't for the talent associated to the film (and boy, are there = ever a lot of characters in this flick!), I wouldn't be surprised if = this movie had gone straight-to-video. There just isn't much going on in = here. Oh sure, maybe I'm a little jaded because I've seen my share of = great comedies, but then again, haven't we all? Sure, we have. This one = just feels like a retread of a retread of an idea that worked in a few = good movies years ago, crunched through the generic meat-grinder = numbered "Screenplay 101", packed with clich=E9 after clich=E9, = ultimately resulting in little more than a couple of chuckles, a = mediocre story-line and a lot of dead silence. Of course, comedies have = always been subjective in nature and to be honest, there were quite a = few people laughing their heads off during my screening (unless they = were high, of course...yeah, yeah, that's it!), but keep in mind that = these folks hadn't exactly "paid" to see the movie either. I was = particularly un-entertained by the obvious setups to many of the "jokes" = in this movie, like the one that has Lawrence blinking when he told a = lie (hardy-har-har!) and a sign language translator woman who continued = to translate certain curse words that DeVito (and then later, Lawrence) = spurt out. Hahaha. Me crackie uppie.
I don't know, maybe I just wasn't in the "right mood" for this simple = rehash of a film. The sad part about it all is that it really could have = been something. Anybody who's seen TIN MEN or WHAT ABOUT BOB? knows that = comedies based on guys vowing revenge on one another could definitely = add up to some pretty funny times, but this one just blew it. Lawrence = doesn't really offer much of his usual hilarity and DeVito seems to = telegraph his role in while cashing his paycheck at the bank. And = everybody else, well, they all just came across as obvious "filler" with = little more to do than to stand around and play along with the goofiness = happening around them. Granted, Larry Miller is always funny and he's = probably the only person who comes off "okay" from this movie, but how's = about getting more than three lines in your next film, Larry...you've = got talent, dammit! And William Fichtner, a man who completely stole the = show in 1999's GO, sort of works as an obviously gay detective here, but = despite his character being fun to look at, not much laughs came from = him either. Yeah, sure I smirked every now and then, but put me in any = movie and I'm bound to do that anyway. Sorry fellas, this whole movie = just felt like it was written over a weekend and shot over a week. A dud = across the board.
Where's JoBlo coming from? Big Momma's House (3/10) - Blue Streak (7/10) - Dirty Work (5/10) - = Ruthless People (7/10) - Tin Men (8/10) - The War of the Roses (8/10) - = What about Bob? (7/10)
Review Date: May 30, 2001 Director: Sam Weisman Writer: Matthew Chapman=20 Producers: Ashok Amritraj, Wendy Dytman=20 Actors: Martin Lawrence as Kevin Caffery Danny DeVito as Max Fairbanks John Leguizamo Genre: Comedy Year of Release: 2001 ------------------------------------ JoBlo's Movie Emporium http://www.joblo.com/ ------------------------------------ (c) 2001 Berge Garabedian
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