Noir November: Fatal Instinct (1993)

 It's hard to think of any reason why writer-director Carl Reiner would want to put another comedic spin on film noirs after hitting such a home run with the brilliant Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Well, perhaps he was happy to be working from a script by someone else (David O'Malley) this time, or maybe he just liked how this referenced a lot of classics while also skewering a number of neo-noirs in every scene. Either way, just enjoy the end result. It has a game cast all providing plenty of laughs.

Splicing a plot together from Double Indemnity, Body Heat (so . . . . . . Double Indemnity twice), Fatal Attraction, Sleeping With The Enemy and Cape Fear, the movie follows Ned Ravine (Armand Assante), a cop who also happens to be a lawyer, as he deals with the potentially dangerous Lola Caine (Sean Young), fails to notice the crush that his assistant (Sherilyn Fenn) has on him, and ends up an unwitting potential victim in a deadly scheme cooked up by his wife (Kate Nelligan) and her lover (Christopher McDonald). And then, to make matters worse, there's the release of Max Shady (James Remar), who also wants to see Ned bumped off.

While it's not the kind of parody that nails every tic and trick of the material it's spoofing, this is a comedy that knows where the easy laughs are and starts to build them up nicely. It's more interested in being silly than being clever, but it throws everything into the mix in a way that should please fans of Zucker/Abrams/Zucker fare. O'Malley hasn't, from what I can see, written anything else in this vein. Some will think that's a good thing, yet I think he has a good success rate with the number of gags that at least raise a smirk.

Reiner knows how to direct comedy, of course, and does his usual good work here. Despite the broad strokes being used, he has fun lifting some major sequences from other movies and filtering them through his skewed vision. The fact that he also knows how to easily steep each scene in the appropriate noir atmosphere is a big plus, whether he's showing sexual chemistry between characters or making sure that the saxophone player is always available to pop onscreen while playing the background tune.

Assante is very funny in the lead role, admirably keeping a straight face even as he's asked to act in more and more ridiculous situations, and the same goes for Young, Fenn, Nelligan, McDonald and Remar. McDonald is probably the one who gives a performance close enough to many of his other acting turns throughout the '90s, but that's no big deal when he's always such good fun to watch. There are also cameo roles for Eartha Kitt and Rosie O'Donnell, which you can view as a good or bad thing, and at least one scene is stolen by an adorable, and all-too-fake, skunk.

I've gathered that I am, once again, well within the minority with my love for this one, but that's no problem. I'll just keep enjoying it, and I'll keep recommending it to people until at least one or two others come around to my way of thinking.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Instinct-Armand-Assante/dp/B00008972V/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415205575&sr=1-2&keywords=fatal+instinct

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All Of Me (1984)

The last of the collaborations between director Carl Reiner and actor Steve Martin, All Of Me is almost as good as any of their previous efforts and holds up as yet another hugely entertaining piece of inspired lunacy from the two men.

The plot of the story is as ridiculous as it is loaded with comic potential. Martin plays Roger Cobb, a lawyer who wants to take his career to the next level. As a bit of a test, he is asked to handle the affairs of Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin). Miss Cutwater is dying, but she has a plan to live on. As she shuffles off the mortal coil, she will have her soul placed in a bowl and then transferred into the body of the lovely, young Terry Hopkins (Victoria Tennant). Roger Cobb finds this idea insane, but it all proves most troublesome when things go wrong and the soul of Miss Cutwater doesn't get to Terry. The bowl is instead knocked out of an open window and lands on . . . . . . . . . . . yes, Roger. When he comes to he soon realises that something is amiss (no pun intended). His body is not entirely his own. The man and the woman will have to work together in the same body to fix the situation, preferably before Roger loses his girlfriend and his job.

The script, written by Phil Alden Robinson and adapted by Henry Olek, from the novel by Edwin Davis, is full of great lines and great characters, but most of the praise has to go to Martin for his physical performance. His turn here holds up, in my opinion, as one of the best physical performances in the modern comedy genre. Tomlin may be heard more than seen, but she's on good form as the spoilt, tired woman who is used to getting everything just how she wants it. Then there's Victoria Tennant. She's okay, nothing more and nothing less. Jason Bernard is great fun as a blind musician who is also a good friend to Martin's character, Dana Elcar is a lot of fun as Martin's boss and Richard Libertini is amusing and sweet as Prahka Lasa, the man with the power to transfer souls into different receptacles.

Reiner keeps things moving along nicely, there's a decent soundtrack (including some nice use of the titular track), and one or two big set-pieces make up for the fact that the script may not be as sharp as their previous works. Well worth your time.

8/10

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Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Steve Martin is detective Rigby Reardon in this amusing, but respectful, slice of fun that makes great use of clips from many classic films of the 1940s (there may be a few movies that come just before or after this decade, but I couldn't say for certain). Reardon has been given a case by the beautiful Juliet Forrest (Rachel Ward), a woman who can sucket a bullet from a gunshot wound, and as he starts to make some headway he soon finds himself in more and more danger. Ain't it always the way.

This black and white outing sees the comedy star teamed up once again with director Carl Reiner, with the pair working on the script with George Gipe, so fans of that relationship will find plenty to enjoy here. There's the usual silliness, but there's also an impressive amount of smart manipulation on display. Every plot development and minor detail is carefully placed onscreen to allow the interaction between Martin and the classic movie characters to seem effortless. The fact that the scenes are often twisted into something comedically brilliant is a big plus, but noir fans may well find themselves falling in love with the "greatest hits" selection of clips put to use.

While there may not be as many moments that stand out as being downright hilarious, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid still has plenty that will stay in the memory of fans who can then go on to share those gags with other fans. The running gag about Reardon's special cup of java, the reaction from the words "cleaning woman", a number of great lines from the ongoing voiceover narration and more.

The main players all do well, including Reiner, who decided to give himself a small role rather than just stay satisfied with his directing and co-writing duties. Thankfully, the performances from people such as Bette Davis, Burt Lancaster, James Cagney, Cary Grant, Veronica Lake, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner and, especially, Humphrey Bogart are all as good as you may remember them being, making the film a pleasure to watch even in between the numerous laughs.

It always feels to me as if Reiner and Martin did many more movies together, but the total was only four. They just happened to be four comedies that either still rank as outright classics, or at least come very close. Don't miss this one, and don't miss any of the others either.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steve-Martin-Collection-DVD/dp/B000QJMSFA/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1373746372&sr=1-1&keywords=steve+martin

The Jerk (1979)

When viewers first meet Navin Johnson (Steve Martin) he's a bum with only two things - his friends (aka other bums in the immediate vicinity) and his Thermos. But, boy oh boy, does he have some story to tell. It all starts many years in the past, when Navin was born a poor, black child.

Essentially a series of hilarious skits thrown together, this was Steve Martin's first leading role in a feature film and remains a quintessential outing for the man who once proclaimed himself "the world's funniest white man."

Written by Martin, with Carl Gottlieb and director Carl Reiner also sharing the workload, this includes such classic moments as "the Thermos song", a look at the sordid world of cat juggling, a young man happily finding his "special purpose" and much, much more.

The leading man may be the film's biggest strength, but the supporting players shouldn't be overlooked. Bernadette Peters has been putting in great work for years, and this is one of her best, sweetest roles - a woman who ends up as the potential love of Navin's life. Jackie Mason gets great one-liner after great one-liner, playing a gas station owner who treats Navin surprisingly well while being constantly bewildered by his naivete. M. Emmet Walsh has a hilarious, memorable, role as someone who wants to kill the lead character, just because his name was picked from the phonebook, and Catlin Adams also makes quite an impression as Patty Bernstein, a stunt bike rider who takes a shine to Navin and wastes no time in getting what she wants.

It may not be as smart, or indeed sophisticated, as later collaborations between Martin and Reiner, but that doesn't mean that it's not as funny. If done well, stupid-stupid can be just as enjoyable as smart-stupid. The Jerk remains, arguably, the pinnacle of stupid and a favourite of mine.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steve-Martin-Collection-DVD/dp/B000QJMSFA/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1373740316&sr=1-1&keywords=steve+martin

The Man With Two Brains (1983)

When asked to choose my favourite Steve Martin movie, it's a tough choice. This movie, The Jerk, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Roxanne and so many others could be in the top spot. But people can be insistent when they ask such questions, and if they're insistent enough I usually cave in and tell them that The Man With Two Brains is my very favourite. Why? Well . . . . . . . . it just IS.

The demented storyline concerns the eminent brain surgeon, Dr. Hfuhruhurr (Martin), and the stroke of fate that puts him in the grasping claws of femme fatale, Dolores Benedict (Kathleen Turner). Dolores is a woman that we first see revelling in her evil ways, teasing an elderly husband until he can take no more. She wants him to die, she thinks that she is due to inherit everything, but things change. Just a few scenes later, Dolores is recovering in hospital and has the good doctor under her spell. But she's not the only woman to want him in her life. There is one other who appears on the scene, one with much nobler intentions and a sweeter personality. She just happens to be a brain floating in a jar in the laboratory of Dr. Alfred Necessiter (David Warner). Her name is Anne Uumellmahaye (voiced by Sissy Spaceck).

If that descriptive paragraph doesn't have enough lunacy in it for you then I feel that I should mention the subplot involving The Elevator Killer, a sobriety test that remains the best, and funniest, ever shown onscreen and a recitation of the classic poem entitled "Pointy Birds".

The madness of Steve Martin in his prime isn't for everyone, but it most certainly is for me. I've been a huge fan of the guy ever since I first saw his output from the early '80s (and I also used to own Steve Martin Live on VHS - a tape I nearly wore out because I watched it so often) and he continues to be, in my opinion, a giant of comedy. Oh, he may be far removed from the days when he could get away with the stuff on show here, but see him working a crowd, or even making people chuckle on Twitter, and you can easily be reminded of his power. Kathleen Turner had another potent kind of power, but it also shouldn't be forgotten just how great she is in this comedic role, one that uses both her sexual allure and a bravura willingness to go along with the madness. David Warner, Paul Benedict, Richard Brestoff and Randi Brooks all have their own memorable moments, while Sissy Spaceck may only be here in a vocal way but she's the sweetest brain in a jar that you could ever listen to. There's also fun to be had spotting Jeffrey Combs and James Cromwell in very small roles.

Director Carl Reiner, who helped to write the movie with Martin and George Gipe, knows how to make the most of every gag, as he would prove again and again over the years. His relationship with Martin would produce the best movies that either man would be involved in, with this being the pinnacle - two men who work brilliantly together being left to have a lot of fun at the height of their powers (comedically speaking).

It doesn't get much better than this, and if you disagree then you may be in need of some screw top, zip lock brain surgery.

10/10

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