HOUSEGUEST
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 3.8
Date Released: 1/6/95 Running Length: 1:48 Rated: PG (Mature themes, cartoon violence)
Starring: Sinbad, Phil Hartman, Paul Ben-Victor, Tony Longo, Kim Greist Director: Randall Miller Producers: Joe Roth and Roger Birnbaum Screenplay: Michael J. Di Gaetano and Lawrence Gay Cinematography: Jerzy Zielinski Music: John Debney Released by Hollywood Pictures
And so it goes with any Disney movie. The corporation can't resist inserting at least one morally-uplifting theme into each of its live action films. While this philosophy might not be a distraction in adventure movies like IRON WILL or THE JUNGLE BOOK, it's out-of-place in the midst of HOUSEGUEST's juvenile humor. People who attend movies to see beautiful women with buck teeth and dentists operating with anesthetized hands aren't looking for a discourse on the value of true friendship and the need to believe in yourself. Plain and simple, they're in the theater to laugh.
However, original intentions aside, it's impossible to deny one of HOUSEGUEST's less savory agendas: to act as a one-hundred eight minute commercial for McDonald's. This takes product placement to an obscene level. Scenes occur in front of, in, and around the fast food joint. There's a nostalgia-laced parody of the "You Deserve a Break Today" TV commercials, complete with the jingle. Sinbad takes about one minute placing a food order, checking off half the items on the menu. Characters bond over Big Macs and fries. On and on it goes... It's obvious where the audience is being manipulated to go for a meal after the movie. So, out of spite, I went to Burger King.
As ACE VENTURA was meant as a vehicle for Jim Carrey, so HOUSEGUEST is all Sinbad's. Admittedly, the two comics have different styles, but both share bigger-than-life personalities. And, even though I find Sinbad less irritating than the rubber-faced half of DUMB AND DUMBER, nearly two hours of him is too much. Even with likable SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE alum Phil Hartman as the film's straight man, HOUSEGUEST wears out its welcome more than a half hour before the Christmas-themed final credits start rolling.
Plot-wise, there's little here beyond a few insubstantial strands. Everything that happens is designed to get Sinbad's Kevin Franklin into a situation where he masquerades as someone he's not--a wealthy dentist with an impeccable reputation. It takes charisma and energy, but not much effort, to pull the wool over everyone's eyes, which leads to a series of predictable misadventures (such as speaking at a high school career day when he doesn't even know what his supposed profession is). Meanwhile, a couple of incompetent goons (Paul Ben-Victor and Tony Longo) are on his trail, trying to recoup $50,000. Hence, the obligatory, poorly-edited chase scenes.
The humor is at low tide, both in terms of quality and content (thankfully, scatological jokes are kept to a minimum--DUMB AND DUMBER offered more than enough of those). I chuckled my way through a fair portion of HOUSEGUEST. Unfortunately, most of the time, I was laughing *at* the movie, not *with* it. In fact, I'm not sure whether my most hilarious moment was intentionally funny.
Admittedly, most who share my taste in films won't be lining up for HOUSEGUEST, so this may be a case of "preaching to the converted." Nevertheless, every once in a while, it's possible to find a rare gem in one of the many like-minded comedies that spring up every year. (Remember PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES? How about CROCODILE DUNDEE?) Alas, HOUSEGUEST is too tarnished. About the best this film has to offer is Sinbad doing his usual shtick beneath the Golden Arches while Phil Hartman offers him some fries and confesses to having fantasies about being Matlock.
- James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com)
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