| I can understand
why Hollywood remakes popular films of
yesteryear, but 1970’s The
Out-of-Towners, starring Jack Lemmon
and Sandy Dennis, is not liked by a lot
of people. I always thought that it was a
good film and even keep a copy of it in
my permanent video library, but even I
would not have picked it to alter. Since
the original film was a precursor to the
superior Planes, Trains &
Automobiles, why not get Steve Martin
to play the male lead? I’ve got no
problem with that (except they changed
his name from "George" to
"Henry"), but Goldie Hawn? At
what point did she turn into Carol
Channing? Plus, the best part about the
original was Dennis’ repeatedly
whining her husband’s name over and
over and over again. Hawn spends too much
time trying to be a sexpot. Goldie,
you’re sixty. Give it up.
Martin and Hawn
(Housesitter) play Henry and Nancy
Clark, two suburban Ohio parents that
have just herded their last child out the
door and find themselves alone, in an
empty house, with nothing to do but
bicker. Nancy is unaware of the
importance of Henry’s upcoming job
interview in New York City, because he
has recently been fired but hasn’t
had the guts to tell his wife. The trip,
of course, is a disaster. They end up in
Boston when New York is fogged in, they
miss a train, they rent a car, they get
mugged, and so on and so on. They also
make the mistake of skipping the airline
meal and then stagger through the rest of
the film hungry. Now that’s humor!
If it
weren’t for Martin, The
Out-of-Towners would be pretty
unbearable, and John Cleese (Monty
Python) adds some laughs as an
uptight hotel manager. When the picture
ended (predictably at the 90-minute
mark), this old guy sitting next to me
hoped aloud that they would show outtakes
during the credits. I pointed out to him
that we been watching them for the last
90 minutes.
1:33 –  for some mild language and
Hawn in low-cut lingerie…Oh, my God
– I’m blind!
|
