I like Renny Harlin. I have yet to see a movie from him that I hate and that includes the ill-received Cutthroat Island (before pirates were trendy again). So I watched this movie with mixed feelings. You see, I hate Andrew Dice Clay. The man sums up everything I dislike about dumb American comedy. I have nothing against American comedy, some of the better acts (Bill Hicks, Steven Wright, Steve Martin, Mitch Hedberg, Rchard Pryor, etc, etc) deserve to be right up there with the best of the bunch. But, sadly, many of the more popular acts seem to rely on a mixture of unsubtle punchlines recognised by the audience because they are LOUD or stale material mixed with flag-waving patriotism. Clay falls into the former group.
He's unfunny, he's brash and he's a complete dick. BUT that's fitting for the character he plays. Sadly, it doesn't make him any more enjoyable. It just means that I have to try to enjoy a Renny Harlin action comedy with one of the worst lead characters I've ever seen.
The sad thing is that the rest of the cast is a veritable goldmine. Gilbert Gottfried, Wayne Newton, Lauren Holly, Priscilla Presley, Vince Neill and Ed O'Neill all appear and all do well in their supporting roles. The movie is also helped by a script that is chock full of gems. Some of these lines are even delivered by Clay, which weakens their comedy kudos, but most of them just appear and make you chuckle instantly.
The plot hanging over everything is flimsy, nothing is too subtle and Clay is the biggest downside of the matter but Harlin walks the line between reality and cartoon incredulity far better than, for example, Sam Raimi in Crimewave. It's big, dumb fun and those who like Clay will derive a lot more pleasure from it than I did.
He's unfunny, he's brash and he's a complete dick. BUT that's fitting for the character he plays. Sadly, it doesn't make him any more enjoyable. It just means that I have to try to enjoy a Renny Harlin action comedy with one of the worst lead characters I've ever seen.
The sad thing is that the rest of the cast is a veritable goldmine. Gilbert Gottfried, Wayne Newton, Lauren Holly, Priscilla Presley, Vince Neill and Ed O'Neill all appear and all do well in their supporting roles. The movie is also helped by a script that is chock full of gems. Some of these lines are even delivered by Clay, which weakens their comedy kudos, but most of them just appear and make you chuckle instantly.
The plot hanging over everything is flimsy, nothing is too subtle and Clay is the biggest downside of the matter but Harlin walks the line between reality and cartoon incredulity far better than, for example, Sam Raimi in Crimewave. It's big, dumb fun and those who like Clay will derive a lot more pleasure from it than I did.