Undescribable Perfection

People are voting emotionally.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Film noir parody with a detective (Steve Martin) uncovering a sinister plot. Characters from real noirs appear as scenes from various films are intercut.This film seems to be best enjoyed by those who love film noir. I do not necessarily think that is a prerequisite, but if you are familiar with the older actors and the films that are mixed in here, you will probably get a little more out of it. (And, heck, if you have not seen these, I strongly recommend you rectify that.) I have a love-hate relationship with Steve Martin. Some of his stuff I think is genius and others I am left unfulfilled. Many people think "The Jerk" is among the greatest comedies of all time. I liked it, but have no desire to push it on others. This one I liked much more.

Detective investigates the disappearance of a cheese scientist. It's a gimmick but this is perhaps the most stellar cast ever assembled: Bogart, Bergman, Cagney, Crawford, Davis, Douglas, Grant, Gardner, Ladd, Lancaster, MacMurray, Stanwyck, etc. It's an amusing gimmick, but unfortunately there is little else here to hold one's interest. The writers labored so hard to cleverly incorporate the vintage clips that they forgot to write a story that has any kind of sustained narrative or wit. The jokes are so lame that most of them are not even worthy of groans. Mostly, one is left longing to watch the films from which clips are teasingly utilized here.

Carl Reiner's collage film homage and/or parody to 1940s film noirs and thrillers is unusually funny and a clever example of placing movie scenes in a new context as a means for comedy. I'm not sure if you actually need to be familiar with the noirs that the film borrows from, but having only seen one (the excellent Notorious) of the nineteen films from which scenes are lifted, I didn't get much enjoyment through recognition.I used to think that the film would have been successful even without the recycling of old material, but it struck me this time that that would wipe out the entire movie. Nevertheless, the funniest part is Steve Martin's deadpan narration that helps framing the clips. The only thing that I don't think is very funny is the recurring cleaning woman gag, but that still makes for a very high success rate.

To explain, should it be necessary, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a black and white crime thriller set in the 40s, starring Steve Martin and a host of the top noir actors and actresses of the 40s, created by taking assorted scenes from those classic movies of the past and hanging them on a framework of a newly written story centred on Martin's character.The idea is smart. The screenplay is smart in the way that it cleverly integrates the old and the new. The film is technically smart in the way it seamlessly joins footage shot in the 1980s with footage from various films shot 40 years earlier. And the performances are particularly smart in the way that they play to the knowing humour underlying the whole project which remaining true to the spirit of the originals.Oh, did I mention that it's very funny?