IMDb RATING
4.8/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
A mysterious black box spells danger to a con man and female detective.A mysterious black box spells danger to a con man and female detective.A mysterious black box spells danger to a con man and female detective.
Jophery C. Brown
- Poker Player
- (as Jophrey Brown)
Lou Criscuolo
- Kurt
- (as Lou Criscoulo)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
4.81.6K
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Featured reviews
Odd, but interesting
I remember watching this years ago. It was one of several comedies Michael Keaton made in the 80's, but you can see him beginning to stretch a bit beyond his cornball comedy roles (e.g. Night Shift, Mr. Mom, Gung Ho, Johnny Dangerously). You can just see a hint of the dramatic (and dark) flair he would reveal a few years later in Beetle Juice and Batman.
The movie itself is pretty contrived, although it has a great supporting cast. It was fun to see Meat Loaf (whose character is always sweaty, and carries around a battery-operated fan to keep cool) and John Davidson (who essentially plays...himself!).
The movie itself is pretty contrived, although it has a great supporting cast. It was fun to see Meat Loaf (whose character is always sweaty, and carries around a battery-operated fan to keep cool) and John Davidson (who essentially plays...himself!).
Movies Like These...
It's movies like these that make me understand why Hollywood writers quit the biz or worse when there are potential masterpieces sitting a filing cabinet somewhere. I remember this was one of those movies that HBO played every other day after 8pm because the licensing was so cheap. I'm sure they never made their money back on this stinker. I get it. Michael Keaton was a hot commodity at the time. But good grief. And Meatloaf? Did he waive his paycheck for a role in the movie? Woof! I'm a big Keaton fan and this movie proves that you can be a big star, make a dud or two and then emerge as Batman. Hats off to you, Sir.
The Thing
Michael Keaton is an installation artist in the glamorous world of Staten Island's disco scene. When Rae Dawn Chong serves a summons on him, a corpse turns up in his apartment, and everyone wants a mysterious black box he finds, it turns into the sort of laugh-free, frantic action comedy that seemed to be all too common in the era. It concentrates on destruction as funny.
It's clear that a lot of money was spent on the production, and the set piece is early on when a battle breaks out in the middle of the disco, but the vague characters aren't appealing, and there isn't any chemistry between the leads.
It's clear that a lot of money was spent on the production, and the set piece is early on when a battle breaks out in the middle of the disco, but the vague characters aren't appealing, and there isn't any chemistry between the leads.
The cast (led by Keaton) do all the heavy lifting.
Michael Keaton is a genuine comic actor; as this unusual buddy comedy-thriller caper goes on to showcase it. His likeable combination with Rae Dawn Chong (private PI) is naturally brought across. Keaton nails his down-on-his-luck character looking to score big to utter perfection. It's the two leads, witty banter and some amusing support parts (Meat Loaf's novel sweaty henchman) that make it watchable.
They need to be, as the contrived plot is uninteresting and very convoluted. The script is just as perplexing. Never does it fuse together. Something about a corrupt multi-million dollar lotto ring scam with a murder-mystery angle. One or two spontaneous set-pieces work, but for most part the direction remains quite pedestrian.
Usually I like these types of dark comedy-thrillers, where the protagonist/s faces danger around nearly every corner and encountering odd situations along the way. It's just the story and direction needs to match that level of excitement, in which case it falls short. Real short. You can easily see why this film is forgotten.
They need to be, as the contrived plot is uninteresting and very convoluted. The script is just as perplexing. Never does it fuse together. Something about a corrupt multi-million dollar lotto ring scam with a murder-mystery angle. One or two spontaneous set-pieces work, but for most part the direction remains quite pedestrian.
Usually I like these types of dark comedy-thrillers, where the protagonist/s faces danger around nearly every corner and encountering odd situations along the way. It's just the story and direction needs to match that level of excitement, in which case it falls short. Real short. You can easily see why this film is forgotten.
Wasted Acting Squeezes This Movie Into Obscurity.
THE SQUEEZE is a pathetic excuse for a film, let alone a comedy. Michael Keaton stars with Rae Dawn Chong in this awful film about a guy who gets caught up in a crime rap of some sorts. People would rather go play in the park instead of watching this pure waste of celluloid. A wasted cast and a tedious script easily makes this one of the most worthless flops in cinema history.
0 out of 5
0 out of 5
Did you know
- TriviaDuring the production, veteran stuntman Victor Magnotta drowned while performing a car stunt in which the auto was driven off a Hoboken, New Jersey pier and plunged into the Hudson River. Vic's untimely death (in his early forties) was the result of several miscalculations. The car was supposed to run off the end of the pier, flat-splash in the Hudson, and sink slowly, but the vehicle had been stripped of all excess weight, including the gas tank. There was a small canister tank under the hood with just enough fuel to pull off the stunt, because environmental laws prohibited fuel leakage into the river. This made the car abnormally nose-heavy. Vic was strapped inside in a five-point harness, and had a "pony" air bottle w/regulator close at hand. For whatever reason, it was decided to replace the car's glass windshield with with one made from a sheet of plexiglass. When the effects crew screwed down the new windshield, the torque on their portable drills was apparently set too high, and the screws stripped out their holes. Vic drove off the end of the pier, but the car had the weight of the engine in front, and very little weight in the rear. Instead of "pancaking" into the river, the car immediately nosed over, and hit the surface grille-first. The onrushing water hit the windshield, ripped out the screws, and wrapped the plastic strip around Vic. He couldn't even get to his air bottle. Safety divers responded immediately, but before they could unwrap him from the failed windshield, he was dead. The actual sequence (not the aftermath, of course) was used in the film.
- GoofsWhen Rachel goes to her office to talk to her boss a Boom mic can be seen going up and down twice, up to her head.
- Alternate versionsUK video versions are cut by 6 seconds. The theatrical release was uncut.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siskel & Ebert: Buried Treasures - 1987 Edition (1987)
- SoundtracksBoy Toy
Performed by Tia
Courtesy of RCA Records
- How long is The Squeeze?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Skip Tracer
- Filming locations
- Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum - 1 Intrepid Square, New York City, New York, USA(lottery-drawing finale)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $22,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $2,228,951
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,380,800
- Jul 12, 1987
- Gross worldwide
- $2,228,951
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