Saturday, February 19, 2005
STEVE
Today's movie was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) which is a very funny Steve Martin vehicle with Michael Caine as his foil. Glenne Headly plays the third side of the triangle.
The film gives Martin a lot of opportunities to naturally use his body and face for full frontal comedy as well as some considerable slapstick. It is not usual to find a scenario that can accommodate his stuff smoothly but the story and Frank Oz' direction makes it all work.
Caine does Caine and Headly is a consummate scene stealer. Given her partners, this is a formidable accomplishment. Actually, there are a lot of women who play the victims of the main guys' con games and all of them are terrific.
I laughed a lot and I was alone. I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 and the NY Times has already named it one of the 1176 Best. I don't know about that actually but it is very very good.
