This very funny, lively and engaging comedy hoot offers a slice-of-life seriocomic cinematic snapshot of a single frantic day at an inner city Los Angeles car wash. Michael Schultz directs with great galvanizing zeal and panache, stringing together a wacky and enjoyable series of freewheeling vignettes with a positively breathtaking sense of smoothness and assurance. Joel Schumacher's witty and colorful script offers plenty of warmth and humanity along with the often uproariously raucous humor. The varied and personable cast have a field day with their vivid characters: Bill Duke as an angry Muslim, Ivan Dixon as a wise, hard-working parolee, Sully Boyar as the harried owner, Franklyn Ajaye as an amiable dreamer, Tracy Reed as a sweet waitress, Antonio Fargas as a flamboyant homosexual, Lorraine Gary as a stuck-up upper class white lady, Jack Kehoe as an affable cowboy, Pepe Serna as a jovial Hispanic, George Carlin as a flaky cab driver, Lauren Jones as a sad hooker, Professor Irwin Corey as a middle-aged guy who's mistaken for a pot bottle bomber, Garrett Morris as a jivey hipster, Melanie Mayron as the sexy cashier, Tim Thomerson as a handsome hunk, Richard Pryor as slick hustler reverend Daddy Rich, and the Pointer Sisters as Daddy Rich's gospel singers. Frank Stanley's polished, sparkling cinematography, Norman Whitfield's funky, dynamic, syncopated soul score, Christopher Holmes' snappy rhythmic editing, and Rose Royce's fabulously groovy classic hit theme song add further bounce and energy to the infectiously frothy, playful and sprightly proceedings. Best of all, there's a constant joy and vibrancy evident throughout which makes this movie an absolute uplifting treat to watch.
Review of Car Wash
