CON AIR
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1997 Michael John Legeros
(Hollywood)
Directed by Simon West
Written by Scott Rosenberg
Cast Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Ving Rhames,
Steve Buscemi, Mykelti Williamson, Rachel Ticotin, Colm
Meaney
MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for violence and profanity)
Running Time 115 minutes
Reviewed at General Cinemas at Pleasant Valley, Raleigh, NC
(02JUN97)
==
CON AIR, the latest testosterone poisoner from late Don Simpson producing partner Jerry Bruckheimer, starring Nicholas Cage as the lone good-guy bad guy aboard a hijacked prison plane, may not be the worst movie of the year-- it's too entertaining to be called that-- but it is an exhausting failure, nonetheless. Bad Choices abound, from editing to story structure to Cage's accent, which renders the hair-extended hero sounding like a cross between the King and Hi, his character from RAIS- ING ARIZONA. (Cage's comment on a car, hanging from the ass-end of a plane: "Awhn any other day, this maht seem strange." Thankyouverymuch.) Call it wrongway filmmaking at its finest, CON AIR is as jaw-dropping awful as last summer's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. And, I believe, even more fun. For every preposterous plot point, for every momentum-sapping sidetrack, for every hundredth slow-mo shot of something exploding, there's a huge laugh lurking right around the corner, be it from one of a dozen scene-stealing villains, to one of a dozen vehicular collisions, to one of a (double) dozen fall-out-of-your-seat-funny one-liners. And I haven't even mentioned the theme from A SUMMER PLACE. Bad movies should be so much fun.
Grade: D+
--
Mike Legeros - Movie Hell http://www.nonvirtual.com/hell/
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