Highly amusing and very pretty to look at comedy with Caine and Martin vying for the undisputed "King Con" rights to a Mediterranean resort peopled by a seemingly never-ending stream of filthy-rich and extremely gullible American women just desperate to give away their money and more to the first silver-tongued devil they encounter.
Beautifully shot in the scenic Italan Riviera, the script is a gift for Mchael Caine as the reigning number one upper-class smooth operator whose dominion is challenged by young punk Steve Martin's new kid on the block. Initially mentor and protégé, during which sequence Martin gets to tribute the Three Stooges, Harpo Marx and Jerry Lewis, they naturally later fall out and become rivals in a competition to dupe a supposedly warm-hearted but dim American heiress, well played by Glenne Headly.
Plenty of laughs ensue, particularly when Martin adopts a crippled war veteran disguise with an aversion to dancing (cue reprise of "The Jerk's" "Happy Feet" scene) with Caine effortlessly playing the straight man to good effect. Occasionally Martin, as is his wont, overdoes the improv and anyway how come he's billed above Caine in the titles but apart from a predictable-from-twenty-miles-out twist at the end, this was for me a bright, likable comedy directed with élan by Frank Oz.
Beautifully shot in the scenic Italan Riviera, the script is a gift for Mchael Caine as the reigning number one upper-class smooth operator whose dominion is challenged by young punk Steve Martin's new kid on the block. Initially mentor and protégé, during which sequence Martin gets to tribute the Three Stooges, Harpo Marx and Jerry Lewis, they naturally later fall out and become rivals in a competition to dupe a supposedly warm-hearted but dim American heiress, well played by Glenne Headly.
Plenty of laughs ensue, particularly when Martin adopts a crippled war veteran disguise with an aversion to dancing (cue reprise of "The Jerk's" "Happy Feet" scene) with Caine effortlessly playing the straight man to good effect. Occasionally Martin, as is his wont, overdoes the improv and anyway how come he's billed above Caine in the titles but apart from a predictable-from-twenty-miles-out twist at the end, this was for me a bright, likable comedy directed with élan by Frank Oz.