Film review: 'Lost and Found'
A few stupid pet tricks and fetching Sophie Marceau as a contemporary object of desire are reasons to endure this mostly laughless vehicle for "Saturday Night Live" alum and "Just Shoot Me" star David Spade. The wide Warner Bros. release directed by Jeff Pollack ("Above the Rim", "Booty Call") will pay off quickly and unspectacularly at the boxoffice on its way to the video pound.
Spade, who co-wrote the uneven, scattershot screenplay with newcomers J.B. Cook and Marc Meeks, does not dominate onscreen like his wilder former partner, the late Chris Farley. In fact, he flounders in "Lost and Found" as a wimpy, ready-for-love restaurateur who dognaps his neighbor's (Marceau) cairn terrier and puts on a halfway sincere nice-guy act to get her attention.
Spade, as supercilious Dylan, rarely breaks a sweat or musses his long hair. Playing too soft and smug a character, he is the weak backbone of the movie, with little help from the supporting players and uninspired comic situations. Part romantic comedy with "There's Something About Mary" aspirations and part nasty adolescent gagfest, "Lost" succeeds at being neither.
The low humor gets down to the level of graphic dog poop jokes, and the pairing of Spade and Marceau is not even remotely incendiary. From the always-gets-a-laugh gag of a mutt banged up and fluffed out in the dryer to Dylan's strip poker-playing old lady neighbors, "Lost" has a few good laughs and too many doggone cliches.
Recently single Dylan has to endure the slavish loyalty and home invasion of corpulent, grubby employee Wally (Artie Lange), who dresses like the lead and helps him woo Lila (Marceau), a professional cellist forced to teach ungrateful kids and play for oblivious shoppers in malls while waiting for a dream gig in the philharmonic.
Lila is not long out of France, and her handsome but bullheaded ex-boyfriend Rene (Patrick Bruel) is trying to win her back. She ignores Dylan at first, but through a series of calculated noble gestures and well-timed assistance -- after he's locked up her four-legged Houdini of a pet, Jack, in his apartment -- they become romantically involved.
Occasionally a scene will click, but the main conflict is prolonged by Jack apparently swallowing the engagement ring of Mark (Mitchell Whitfield), Dylan's best friend. Lucky Wally is put in charge of checking regularly for the item, given to Dylan for safekeeping, in the wily dog's poop.
In the dragged-out climax, Dylan caters a party given by a no-nonsense bank president (Martin Sheen) and impresses everyone but the viewer with his lip-synching and live singing of Neil Diamond's "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show." Does Dylan get the girl back? Do they find the ring in time?
LOST AND FOUND
Warner Bros.
Alcon Entertainment presents
A Wayne Rice/Dinamo Entertainment production
Director: Jeff Pollack
Screenwriters: J.B. Cook, Marc Meeks, David Spade
Producers: Wayne Rice, Morrie Eisenman, Andrew A. Kosove, Broderick Johnson
Director of photography: Paul Elliott
Production designer: Rusty Smith
Editor: Christopher Greenbury
Costume designer: Susan Bertram
Music: John Debney
Casting: Jackie Burch
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dylan: David Spade
Lila: Sophie Marceau
Rene: Patrick Bruel
Wally: Artie Lange
Mark: Mitchell Whitfield
Millstone: Martin Sheen
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Spade, who co-wrote the uneven, scattershot screenplay with newcomers J.B. Cook and Marc Meeks, does not dominate onscreen like his wilder former partner, the late Chris Farley. In fact, he flounders in "Lost and Found" as a wimpy, ready-for-love restaurateur who dognaps his neighbor's (Marceau) cairn terrier and puts on a halfway sincere nice-guy act to get her attention.
Spade, as supercilious Dylan, rarely breaks a sweat or musses his long hair. Playing too soft and smug a character, he is the weak backbone of the movie, with little help from the supporting players and uninspired comic situations. Part romantic comedy with "There's Something About Mary" aspirations and part nasty adolescent gagfest, "Lost" succeeds at being neither.
The low humor gets down to the level of graphic dog poop jokes, and the pairing of Spade and Marceau is not even remotely incendiary. From the always-gets-a-laugh gag of a mutt banged up and fluffed out in the dryer to Dylan's strip poker-playing old lady neighbors, "Lost" has a few good laughs and too many doggone cliches.
Recently single Dylan has to endure the slavish loyalty and home invasion of corpulent, grubby employee Wally (Artie Lange), who dresses like the lead and helps him woo Lila (Marceau), a professional cellist forced to teach ungrateful kids and play for oblivious shoppers in malls while waiting for a dream gig in the philharmonic.
Lila is not long out of France, and her handsome but bullheaded ex-boyfriend Rene (Patrick Bruel) is trying to win her back. She ignores Dylan at first, but through a series of calculated noble gestures and well-timed assistance -- after he's locked up her four-legged Houdini of a pet, Jack, in his apartment -- they become romantically involved.
Occasionally a scene will click, but the main conflict is prolonged by Jack apparently swallowing the engagement ring of Mark (Mitchell Whitfield), Dylan's best friend. Lucky Wally is put in charge of checking regularly for the item, given to Dylan for safekeeping, in the wily dog's poop.
In the dragged-out climax, Dylan caters a party given by a no-nonsense bank president (Martin Sheen) and impresses everyone but the viewer with his lip-synching and live singing of Neil Diamond's "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show." Does Dylan get the girl back? Do they find the ring in time?
LOST AND FOUND
Warner Bros.
Alcon Entertainment presents
A Wayne Rice/Dinamo Entertainment production
Director: Jeff Pollack
Screenwriters: J.B. Cook, Marc Meeks, David Spade
Producers: Wayne Rice, Morrie Eisenman, Andrew A. Kosove, Broderick Johnson
Director of photography: Paul Elliott
Production designer: Rusty Smith
Editor: Christopher Greenbury
Costume designer: Susan Bertram
Music: John Debney
Casting: Jackie Burch
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dylan: David Spade
Lila: Sophie Marceau
Rene: Patrick Bruel
Wally: Artie Lange
Mark: Mitchell Whitfield
Millstone: Martin Sheen
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 4/19/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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