Getting Away with Murder

Penny Marshall produced this?

Harvey Miller, who wrote "Private Benjamin," wrote this?

Lemmon, Aykroyd, Hunt, and the incomparable LILY TOMLIN agreed to work on it?

Tasteless, unfunny, painful to watch.

Whatever moral point they were trying to make, and whatever humor they were trying to achieve, this film just... just hurt. Hurt my eyes, and hurt the reputations of all involved.

I'm embarrassed for all involved, and chagrined that I felt I had to watch to the end, to justify writing a review to warn others. Fifteen minutes would have been more than enough.

I found this movie not as bad as everybody says it is. I think its pretty entertaining. I really liked the plot of the film.

Dan Ayrkoyd, looking boxy and well-scrubbed, plays a college professor in Massachusetts who is caught up in the media frenzy surrounding elderly German neighbor Jack Lemmon, who has been accused of being a notorious Nazi war criminal living under an assumed identity; when Lemmon tells Aykroyd he intends to leave the country in protest, Aykroyd plots to poison him as a form of historical justice. Writer-director Harvey Miller probably intended this dark-hued comedy to be a twisted hoot, in the "Eating Raoul" vein. He apparently gained the trust of his talented performers--and comedy vet Penny Marshall was swayed enough to co-produce--but something must have gotten lost in the translation from screenplay to film, because there are hardly any laughs in this scenario. The cast plays it poker-faced...perhaps they weren't sure just how over-the-top the presentation should be. Results are curiously lukewarm, and full of dumb jokes like one involving Lemmon's dog being attracted to Aykroyd's crotch--which Miller then repeats, as a TV director might. *1/2 from ****

I got quite a lot of chuckles out of this movie. But does that make it a really good flick? Not necessarily. It's better than most people say it is (well, the few people who've seen it). Hell, I figured "Jack Lemmon's in the cast. How bad can this movie be?" Dan Aykroyd's career definitely isn't as successful as it was in the seventies--his SNL days. I still think he's very talented, but like Chevy Chase he's starting to fall into that ditch with other has-been SNL alumni of the seventies. Lily Tomlin is another veteran comic, but let's face it--what was the last big movie she was in? I love Dan and Lily, but they're two people who wouldn't surprise me if they were to do a bad movie, despite their talents.

But actually, this isn't a bad movie at all. People may criticize the subject matter involving Nazi Genocide, but I'm flexible when it comes to comedy. I have a pretty dark sense of humor myself, and I don't mind dark humor at all and believe that almost anything can be made funny if handled in the right manner. "All in the Family" is one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, and the show constantly dealt with the subject of racism.

There are a good deal of funny moments, though worthy of chuckles and not laughs. But the movie just lacks a certain energy. I can't point out exactly what could've been done better, but the film just has a bland feeling to it. It needed more bite.

The acting is great, though. Aykroyd gives an enthusiastic performance. Lemmon performs the same way he would in any of his Oscar-winning films. And Tomlin is impressive as well, in a role that requires her to be somewhat dramatic and not the goofball she usually plays. So basically, what we have is a first-rate cast in a second-rate movie.

As I said, not a bad movie--just needed more bite.

My score: 6 (out of 10)

Professor Lambert lectures on ethics and morals at a local University and lives alone in a quiet suburban area. However when his neighbour, is accused of war crimes as a Nazi he isn't sure what to think. When he is told that Mueller is about to leave for Ecuador, where he will be free to live out his life without extradition he cannot morally accept it and decides to take action by murdering him. However Lambert's ethics and need for justice soon cause the whole plan to crumble in a moral mess.

I'd never heard of this film when I watched it but Dan Aykroyd is usually an OK bet – even if he's not as funny as Bill Murray often manages. However after watching this I understand why I hadn't heard of it. The plot is OK at the start but the moral reasoning that drives much of the latter stages doesn't ring true and it feels like the film is just trying to muddle through to a very unsatisfactory ending that also feels like they weren't sure how it should end so they just stopped!

As a drama it doesn't work at all, sadly as a comedy it has no laughs at all. Not a smile, I assumed it was a bad drama until a glance at the listings told me it was meant to be a comedy! A misguided drama I can understand, but to pitch something so lame as a comedy is beyond justification.

The cast are wasted here. Names like Tomlin, Lemmon, Aykroyd and Adler really need better material than this to show what they can do. Here they do the best they can but they can turn a sow's ear into a purse.

Overall this is a failed comedy and a drama that is failing with every plot step. The end result is a film that is neither funny or dramatic – it is merely mediocre and very dull.