A frequently forgotten entry in Richard Lester's oeuvre... despite the success of the last two Superman films, this was all he could get made?
It's an ensemble comedy piece, set in 1973, presumably so Michael O'Keefe can impersonate a soldier escorting a dead body home.And there's a subplot about the dead body never actually having served because the real kid is hiding out (Jim Carrey) for dodging the draft at the behest of his dad (Brian Dennehy).
Everything feels off here. The pace is sluggish, the casting not quite right. O'Keefe is alright, I guess. I normally like Beverly d'Angelo, as an erratic actor he meets on the train, but not here - her gay jokes don't age well. Pamela Stephenson adds some life as widow who steals $5 million but she's barely in the film. Ed Lauter seems uneasy as a fellow conman who has quite a big role. Carrey has a decent bit of screen time as the kid hiding out but he never pays off in the way that you hope. Ditto Brian Dennehy. Louis Gosset Jnr pops up as O'Keefe's conman mentor in a part that could actually be cut out of the film.
The whole film is based on misunderstandings which gets tiresome. There's all these coincidences - Michael O'Keefe's conman gets confused for a helper for crook Ed Lauter, the dead returning soldier is actually hiding out. It doesn't pay off in a decent way.
Maybe it had all kept on the train or something. Lester's touch, so confident in his European films, feels uneasy here with Canada standing in for America. Maybe a more youthful lead, like say Carrey even, would be more engaging than O'Keefe, who plays it cocky, when someone more bumbling might be effective - and make more sense he had a mentor. Maybe a younger actor than d'Angelo too to give the lead duo more freshness.
It's awkward and needed another draft and probably for Lester needed to be filmed in England where he was more comfortable. Some people like this movie though.
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