A Fine Mess
1986VOTE NOW
| Columbia Pictures | Release Date: August 8, 1986 |
Starring:
Ed Herlihy, Howie Mandel, Jennifer Edwards, Keye Luke, Maria Conchita Alonso, Paul Sorvino, Richard Mulligan, Rick Ducommun, Stuart Margolin, Ted Danson
Summary:
An actor and a chef fathom a plot to fix a horse race and attempt at capitalizing it, while striving to tackle two of the hitmen responsible for the scheme.
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The gags in A Fine Mess aren't particularly inspired (there's a lot
of eye-gouging and groin-kicking), but Edwards' stylistic assurance often has
enabled him to do a lot more with a lot less. He's off his game in this one
--lingering a fraction of a second too long over gags that don't deserve
it, cutting up the action into two or three shots when a single image would
have expressed the idea more clearly--and the results are pretty grim. [8 Aug 1986, p.AC]
Nothing quite works as it should: the rhythms are subtly off, the pace is forced, the comedy overextended . . . and the surfeit of hommages—to the Keystone Kops and Laurel and Hardy and Jerry Lewis and all and sundry—threatens to sink it before it gets out of the starting gate. But there's something to be said for Edwards's insatiable overreaching, and at times the orchestration of pratfalls and comic pairings could hardly be more deft.
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Ted Danson ("Cheers") is made for the small
screen; blown up he looks empty. And his co-conspirator, played by comedian
Howie Mandel in his film debut, isn't much better in a role that obviously was
designed to let him do his sound-effects-filled comedy act whether the story
warrants it or not. The film's many chases will wear you out in short order,
save for one funny speeded-up sight gag. [15 Aug 1986, p.A]
Unless you're a constipated horse or a lover of truly tasteless cinema, A Fine Mess is one you don't want to wander into. [8 Aug 1986, p.D15]
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