Once Bitten (1985)
2/10
Abysmal
15 April 2018
Unbelievable. Witless, coarse, crude, offensive, horrendously directed... This was produced by Samuel Goldwyn Jr. His father had been one of the two 'classiest' producers in old Hollywood; he not only made many superb dramas -- "prestige pictures", they used to call the type of dramas he'd make -- he also made excellent comedies, and he'd hired the very best writers and directors (Billy Wilder, George S. Kaufman, Howard Hawks. etc.) to make them. He must have turned over in his grave to see his name connected with this garbage.

The director has zero idea of how to make a scene 'cook', to develop chemistry between his actors, to bring out whatever humor there might be in a situation... nothing. He seems to have spent most of his career grinding out sitcom episodes -- second-rate ones, at that -- which is a very different thing than doing what Hawks or Wilder or McCarey did. The climactic chase is embarrassing even by boneheaded-'80's-comedy standards. This seems to be his only feature-directing credit, and you can see why.

Re the cast, Jim Carrey does the best he can, but he is obviously hamstrung by a director who told him to just do the script as written, like television -- and the script as written was just awful. Cleavon Little is wasted. The only saving grace is Lauren Hutton, who is sexy as hell and seems to be having a good time despite everything.

It's also fun as a time capsule of its era -- the clothes, the music, etc. But outside of that and Lauren Hutton, it's an utter stinkeroo.
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