It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

This is one of the UNFUNNIEST comedies I've ever seen. Not only is the humor extremely lame and unenergetic, there aren't that many attempts at humor! The only thing to be said in its favor is that it isn't one of those bad, sex-perverted Canadian films that Canada now makes.

The sequel, "Find The Lady", is just as unfunny, though done with somewhat more energy.

Well, let me just say, I'm a huge John Candy fan from way back. Was perusing the video shelf at a local store, and wow,, John Candy's face jumps out at me. ! Thought I had seen most if not all of his movies. Big photo of John and a description of some guy and his marital problems. So i figure not every one makes a movie that is well know so I buy hoping to watch a good, but rather unknown, Candy film. Well, this isn't a Candy film. It's from 1975!!!! Well before he was star. Cheap way to see a movie I think. It' like putting the kid's face from Forest Gump , who sat in the back of the bus and said "Hey Forest" on the cover because years later he became a star. Oh well, that's life. Just saying if you think this is a John Candy film - it's not.

I unfortunately purchased this movie and the sequel, "Find the Lady" for 10 bucks. I am a big fan of John Candy and the back of the box made it seem better than it is. But after I watched the first one, I threw both of them out without ever seeing "Find the Lady." This movie is just slapstick with no point. It's not even Three-Stooges-quality slapstick, it's just plain pointless. I should've listened to that first review, but I saw it anyway. Don't make my same mistake. If you purchased the same two-pack as I did, do yourself a favor and give it to someone you don't like for his / her birthday.

In other words, it seemed like a good idea to check this out at the library, but it was a waste of time. The cover is very misleading. I don't know if all the copies are like this, but the one I got has this big picture of John Candy, (looking about the way he looked in Only the Lonely) and a small picture of Stephanie Powers looking older (and with much darker hair than in the actual movie). I kept waiting for John Candy to appear, and barely tolerating the lowbrow humor and ridiculous plot, and low and behold, he finally appears in about the last half hour of the movie, looking young and baby-faced and much thinner than I've ever seen him before (more chubby than fat, to put it bluntly) and he barely has much of a part, and you don't learn much about his character at all. He's seen from the back and profile in much of his scenes. The cover of the movie leads you to believe there is more to his character, proclaiming, "A heart as big as all outdoors, and a body to match". This is probably a comment on the actor personally, not the character he portrayed in this movie. It sounds like the perfect description for his character in "The Great Outdoors", "Uncle Buck" and just about any other movie he actually "starred" in. What a joke. And not a funny one, at that. If you're a John Candy fan, see any of his other movies, and mercifully pass this one up. You'll wonder, why did he bother? And more to the point, why did you? I'm glad I didn't fork out any money to view this stinker.

I must say that the blatantly false advertising used to sell this movie today is a disgrace. On the cover was a giant picture of John Candy with his name over the title, and the reverse said that he headed up the cast. However, when you watch the movie, you find an old '70s movie in which a much younger-looking John Candy plays a very small part.

Despite the false pretense under which I purchased the movie, I do believe it was still worth the watch. It is campily-humorous per the time period in which it was made, and includes the bonus of the appearance of Isaac Hayes as the lead's best friend. Though not one of my favorites by a long shot, its low-brow humor is entertaining enough for the price I paid. While some of those bargain bin movies have been bad enough to never merit a second glance, this one remains in my collection as worthy of an occasional viewing.