The mystery is how it could be so bad. The cast is a great collection of comic character actors of the 1970's. The writer has a top-notch resume filled with wonderful comic scripts, including his collaborations with Woody Allen (the early movies, when Woody Allen movies were funny), and the director isn't incompetent. There are even some good lines in the script. (One attempt on Joanna Barnes' life is introduced by a shot of a shark in a swimming pool, with a sign by the pool reading, "Acme Shark Rentals." Bob Dishy's psychiatrist is confined to a straight-jacket; Dishy asks him why, and the psychiatrist replies, "We can't all be fashion-plates.") But the result is a mess. The actors and the director seem to have responded to what they knew was a failing movie with desperation -- "maybe if we play this broader, louder, quirkier, more over-the-top, we can make it funny." They can't, and they don't.
So what went wrong? The temptation, this having been a product of Hollywood in the 1970's, is to wonder who was on what drugs. If that isn't the explanation, I'd love to hear what was.
So what went wrong? The temptation, this having been a product of Hollywood in the 1970's, is to wonder who was on what drugs. If that isn't the explanation, I'd love to hear what was.