Getting Away with Murder

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)

Maybe it's just because I like Dan Aykroyd: I have never seen a movie with him that I did not enjoy. I decided to put in a few lines of appreciation for this one, considering the bad reviews read here. It certainly is not the ultimate masterpiece of comedy but I found it thoroughly enjoyable, and despite the fact that I was very tired it kept watching it until 2am.

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 ****

The best thing that I can say about this movie is that I did not turn it off. I would have to add however that I was tempted to many times. This was potentially a funny movie, but it just didn't quite make it. Perhaps the continual narrative by Ackroyd did not help. The standard of acting was reasonable. The standard of direction was reasonable. The story was reasonable and had the potential of making a good movie. The 91 minutes of run time seemed more like 180 minutes. The movie was too drawn out and the comedy was too little and not funny enough. Of all the actors, I thought that Lily Tomlin gave the best performance. Ackroyd was OK, but as his was the main role, it was going to take more than OK to make the movie good. Jack Lemmon was unimpressive and his accent unconvincing. I gave it 5 from 10, and that was probably being generous.

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.