Memorable, crazy movie

Absolutely Fantastic

The acting in this movie is really good.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Uncle Joe (Kirk Douglas) is an aging grumpy wealthy eccentric. His nieces and nephews are desperate to be on his good side while stabbing each other in the back. Carl (Ed Begley Jr.) and Nora McTeague (Mary Ellen Trainor) brought their two kids. Patti (Colleen Camp) and Ed (Bob Balaban) have two daughters Jolene and Joette. Glen (Jere Burns) and Muriel are getting separated. Frank (Phil Hartman) has a bratty son and a drunken wife Tina. Then Molly Richardson (Olivia d'Abo) shows up as his live-in 'nurse' and threatens everything. Danny McTeague Jr (Michael J. Fox) is a struggling bowler sleeping with the program producer Robin Hunter (Nancy Travis). His father hated uncle Joe's greedy ways and took his family away. The rest of the family is now so desperate that they try to reclaim the high ground by returning the long lost nephew and his family. Danny liked Uncle Joe as a kid and decides to go back to borrow money for a bowling alley.There are just so many unlikeable characters. On the other hand, I like Kirk Douglas and Michael J. Fox together. If they could reduce the number of relatives, this may work better. The bickering relatives are funny for a little while but it wears pretty thin. It would also concentrate the villain of the play. When Danny starts to turn, he loses some of the sympathies. He just walks a little too far over the line. Also he needs to save himself without his daddy coming to the rescue. If Danny isn't so desperate in some of the scenes, it would be better for the movie.

I found this film so obvious in its "humor" and overacting all over the place that could only resist about 20 minutes of it.It seemed acted for people with diminished intellectual capacity, loudly and over the top, with plenty of facial gestures and theatrical whispers --when they weren't shouting-- rolling eyes and everything. Really.Shame for an actor like Kirk Douglas, that has masterpieces in his portfolio of pictures.And the film is wrong from its basis, the script, a script --again so obvious-- that from the very first scene we comprehend the whole idea without having to wait for its development, so infantile it is. Maybe it was done for the Popcorn Generation or whatever they are called?Read the other reviews, see whatever length of this movie you can suffer, and judge for yourself.

This comedy from the same director that brought us My Cousin Vinny is certainly a bit of a buried treasure. A well-cast, surprisingly effervescent production that has a good number of genuine laughs. Kirk Douglas is an aging millionaire, whose immediate family is comprised of a loathsome greedy horde of bloodsuckers who spend their time in outrageously sycophantic displays while trying to undercut their competition. Their plans hit a snag with the arrival of sexy pizza delivery girl Olivia D'abo who stays on as Douglas' caretaker. To attempt to ameliorate her influence, the clan seeks out Douglas' favorite estranged nephew - a down-on-his-luck bowler played by Michael J. Fox, who does his best to rise above the shenanigans, but finds himself drawn ever further into the melee.If the film has a major weakness, it is that once the family unites to draw Fox into the game, the entire group of them (including Hartman, Jere Burns, Colleen Camp, etc.) suddenly operate as one mind rather than continuing to undermine each other. It would have been far more intriguing to see each specific relative continue with schemes of their own. Otherwise, the film is a lot of fun. Douglas is hilarious as the millionaire, who knows all too well what the family is doing and always seems one step ahead of their foolishness. Phil Hartman is a deadpan delight as the primary golddigger, who spends his time disparaging his relatives to Douglas with acid backhanded "compliments". Director Jonathan Lynn is acerbically funny as the put-upon butler and D'abo is suitably sexy as the wild card in the mix. The usually capable Nancy Travis is stuck with a largely humorless role as Fox's well-meaning girlfriend and the voice of reason in the film. Truthfully, her character could have been omitted or combined with the D'abo character without any deleterious impact. Fox himself has rarely been better outside of the Back to the Future franchise. This is one of his most appealing and consistently amusing performances. I would also be remiss in not mentioning his pleasantly surprising extended nude scene. I mean, WOW! Who knew? Sharp-eyed viewers will figure out the ending, but it does not make it any less satisfying. A film comedy that definitely needs to be rediscovered and re-evaluated by a new crop of viewers. They will definitely be rewarded.

I have a (fairly) vast collection of VHS tapes. I rarely get rid of anything, especially movies. Given that, there are a few among them that I don't care all that much for... some, I've even forgotten. There are even two or three that I've only watched once, and never really felt like watching again... each time it came up as I searched through my collection of films for something to watch, I would cringe at the thought of sitting through it even one more time. This is one such film. I'm not entirely sure what compelled me to give it another chance... I read a quote or two, half-remembered how they were said, and recognized some names on the cast... Phil Hartman, Ed Begley Jr. and Jere Burns(in order of how talented and funny I'd rate them), all three of which I've seen elsewhere and grown to appreciate the talents of(Douglas and Fox were the only two actors I knew the first time I watched this), and I think those were the main contributors, the last of the two reasons being the most important(in fact, Hartman is one of the people on a short mental list of people that I want to watch all of(well, at least as far as the watchable ones go) the work of). As the opening credits come on, I nearly regretted this decision... but that went away fairly quickly after the film itself began. The plot is pretty good. The actors all fit their roles and perform quite well. The cinematography does its job fine, as well as the editing, even if they are a little weird at times(speaking as a film aficionado(and someone who enjoys using words from foreign languages in everyday life) as well as someone who's enjoyed the pleasure and the privilege of trying his hands at both, it seems like there were many situations(be it in the production or post-production phase; shooting or editing) where they couldn't quite think of a good solution how to get all the elements or properly frame the shots, so they just went with the best they could think of(which leaves a bit to be desired, at times). It isn't that huge a deal, though). All those elements are fine, if not downright good. The real problem here is the humor... in spite of some wit and some black comedy that is among the darkest I have seen, there just seems to be too little of the film's humor that works. The timing is occasionally off, and a lot of potential(not to mention comical talent) is wasted. For a comedy, this just doesn't provide enough laughs to keep you watching for almost two hours. What made it truly worth it for me, and the main reason I urge anyone who decides to give this film a chance is the moral... the message of the film(it alone lifted my rating above the average of a 5). It gives such a clear perspective on greed, one that I don't believe I've ever seen presented before(and certainly not so skillfully). I recommend this to any fan of comedies who is willing to accept a lesser comedy to get to the great message of it(which is neither preachy nor heavy-handed, as some the moral of some message-movies is). Maybe the biggest fans of the actors should avoid, though... you may hate for the sole reason of how little the biggest talents in the film get to do. 6/10