It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

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.

Rather rubbish.

1975's 'It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time' is supposed to be a comedy but I can't say I laughed, or even really chuckled, once, it's a bit of a slog to sit through; despite a short run time of 90 minutes.

A flick seemingly most known for being the second film role of John Candy, who I'm surprised to see got a spin-off from this with co-star Lawrence Dane - neither of them stood out to me to be honest, especially (the eventually great) Candy. Of the other cast members, Stefanie Powers is alright but Anthony Newley's character kinda irritated more than anything else unfortunately.

I shall still check out spin-off 'Find the Lady', in hope more than expectation that it'll be better than this - presumably with Candy as lead, it stands more of a chance than it otherwise would to be fair.

I might have given it a higher rating, if there was any way to figure out what was going on. Stephanie Powers is gorgeous. Yvonne DeCarlo has a great expressive face, that is wonderful to see. A young John Candy has a minor role, which was kind of fun. Some of the outfits and 1970's fashions were really awesome. Unfortunately, the plot is truly incomprehensible. The direction is uneven, at best. The script is deranged - there does not appear to be a real plot at all. I got to the last scene, and still did not know what the point of this movie was. All I can say is, it was a waste of a dollar at Walmart. Not to mention an hour and a half of my time. I cannot believe that a studio paid to have this movie made, let alone releasing it on DVD.

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time is not supposed to be a classic. it's just goofy fun. 80-90% of the movies made annually are just candy.

when a movie is this "bad"...it's interesting to just look at other aspects of it. the direction...writing...what possibly passed as humor at that time. i think its amusing to just "watch" people act. see the wheels turning in their eyes as their minds bring out the next line of dialog.

don't be hard on movies like "Good Idea". they are not supposed to stand the test of time. it's just candy.

This is not a masterpiece of comedy. It's full of clichés, the editing is horrible, and the plot doesn't start until the last third of the film. That said, for all the camp and lameness, it's still a watchable and harmless bit of filmed cheese.

In a nutshell, the plot goes something like this: Sweeney (Anthony Newley) is a washed up playwright who seems to spend most of his time scamming his artist friend Moriarty (Issac Hayes) for petty cash and beer. He still has weekly lovemaking fests with his ex-wife Georgia (Stefanie Powers), who is unhappily married to a wealthy construction contractor (Henry Ramer). Her husband, for no obvious reason, wants to tear down Georgia's mother's house, so Georgia has been "helping" mayor-wannabe Burton (Llyod Bochner) in his campaign -- by which I mean sleeping with him. Sweeney does a variety of naughty things, presumably with the intention of winning back his ex, all of which end up in a fake kidnapping scam. The scam brings out two inept cops (John Candy and Lawrence Dane) who do little other than play the dupes. There are a few twists and turns, and a lot of predictable gags. The big finale is a chase scnene with cops dressed as garbage men, which leads to a happy ending.

Like I said, the film is harmless camp, but there are some things worth noting about it.

This was the first credited film role for John Candy, and although he has a very small part in the film, it's something of a nice surprise to see him looking so young, healthy and slim rather than the more time-worn late-career comic many of us remember.

It's a shame that British actor Anthony Newley never made much of an impression here in the states. He's like a low-rent Dudley Moore mixed with a touch of "The Horse's Mouth"-era Alec Guiness. The chemistry between Newley and Stefanie Powers actually DOES have chemistry. Unfortunately, the loose plot doesn't do much with this.

In a modern context, many of Newley's efforts to win back his ex would be considered very good grounds for a restraining order. Still, it's hard to sympathize with Powers' character, as she spends most of the film scheming on getting more money and power (arguably to save her mother's house from foreclosure), and having not-so-discreet affairs.

Issac Hayes does a passable job playing the cool and calm Moriarty, and was a good choice to play off Newley's frantic performance. He also has a very nice moment towards the end, where he drunkenly destroys all the plaster creations in his studio with a sledgehammer.

The rest of the cast is forgettable.

I'm sure that director John Trent wanted to make a fun bit of low-brow film, but he never seems to let the movie get quite as greasy as it really could. He hints at nudity and sex several times, but is afraid to show so much as a nipple or buttock cheek. In many of his gags, Trent seems afraid to follow the action, leaving many of the jokes only half-told. It makes for some very weak scenes.

The film's other major flaw is in the editing, which is choppy and awkward. The film jumps from one character and storyline to another for no obvious reason, and combined with the bizarre sound effects and bad pacing, the film has moments that are almost unwatchable.

Given the fact that I bought this film for $1 at a bargain bin at a Wal-Mart, there's very little to complain about. Why did I buy it? It seemed like a good ... well, you get the idea.