Cadillac Man

Joey O'Brien (Robin Williams) is a relentless car salesman. The car lot is moving and there will fewer sales jobs. He has two days to sell 12 cars to make an impression. He spends all of his money on the women in his life; ex-wife Tina (Pamela Reed), married woman Joy Munchack (Fran Drescher) and party girl Lila (Lori Petty). Then Larry (Tim Robbins) breaks in with a gun suspecting his wife Donna (Annabella Sciorra) is cheating with somebody in the car lot. Donna is grazed by a bullet. Joey tries to take the blame for an affair despite not sleeping with Donna. He tries to talk Larry down as the police surrounds them.

Everything is wacky. Everybody is loud. They are all yelling. It is generally not funny except when Robin gets a few laughs with the help of Tim Robbins. I do not see Roger Donaldson as a funny director. It is trying to be Dog Day Afternoon but it does not have the gritty reality. Even the cops are deliberately loud. The police negotiator is one of the most antagonist negotiator in any movie. Everyone is deliberately set on edge and it does not make it funny.

The gist of it all here, is the power of talking, of conversation and that a good car salesman can talk himself into or out of anything.

And wow, is this movie really thirty five years old?

Thirty five?

Already?

Wow.

Where does the time go?

I would've been graduating from high school right about the time this was released into theaters.

Lori Petty looks incredible here. On the verge of my first time ever setting eyes on her, in Point Break.

And Tim Robbins had already done Bull Durham by now. And Jacob's Ladder was coming out soon too.

Robin Williams. Such a legend. He's great in this.

This movie will drive you crazy as a hostage taking type film.

And it's hard to take too seriously as that.

But it's still a solid movie.

They don't make original films like this anymore and definitely not for theaters.

This movie is definitely worth a test drive.

Robbin Williams stars in this wickedly amusing and ocassionally hilarious film about a car salesman having the worst few days of his life. Williams plays Joey, a car salesman who is juggling 2 girlfriends, had to deal with his wife wanting more money, a ganster wanting payment on a gambling debt and a boss who wants him to seel 12 cars in two days or he will loose his job. On top of that We have Tom Robbins as the husband of an employee who breakes into the dealership with an automatic weapon demanding to know who has been sleeping with his wife. The film suffers from a boring first half that seems to be going nowhere fast and only has a few scattered laughs but then begins to succeed due to the great chemestry between Williams and Robbins. It may not be perfection but because of great performances from the two leads, many laughs and a heart felt ending this one is a winner in my books.

Not Robin Williams's greatest movie by any stretch, but still pretty funny, "Cadillac Man" casts him as car salesman Joey O'Brien, whose life is falling apart. His marriage is in the toilet and he has to sell 12 cars or he loses his job. Just when it seems that things couldn't get any worse, angry husband Larry (Tim Robbins) hijacks Joey's lot. From there, it's mostly a series of gags.

This seems like the sort of movie that they just made for fun. And it is pretty fun. Don't expect any life-changing experiences from watching it (e.g., Williams doesn't launch into any wacky monologues); just sit back and enjoy. I don't understand how a previous reviewer thought that this movie relates to quantum mechanics (but then again, I don't know anything about quantum mechanics). Also starring Fran Drescher and Annabella Sciorra.

Robin Williams sells Cadilacs at one of those lots that dot post-industrial North Queens. He loves selling cars, and he loves women. That's a lot of women, including his ex-wife and three girl friends, one of whom is married. So when Tim Robbins comes in with a plastique bomb because he thinks Williams is making love to his wife, Williams has to sell him on the fact that he shouldn't do that. And the thing in common with all good salesmen is they believe in what they're selling, whether it's true or not.

Most of the movie is Williams driving around from one neatly compartmentalized part of his life to the other, breaking the fourth wall to chat with the audience. The scene with Robbins, however, is some top notch acting, sounding wholly unrehearsed by both both men.... and quite mad. Those sequences make this a great movie.