The Writer's Poke

This one came out in December 1986, and I remember watching it in the theaters. I would have been about 13, and I had no idea that it was a musical. Needless to say, I hated it, and although I'm okay with watching musicals now, I haven't watched it since.  What's it like watching it now, 40 years later? Well, I love it. Specifically, I enjoy Steve Martin as Orin, the evil dentist. Martin is a weird Elvis/Jerk hybrid on giggle juice. And the best scene is when he's working with Bill Murray, who plays a bizarre dental patient (Arthur) who gets off on the pain. Orin doesn't know exactly how to handle Arthur, as the dentist lives to dish out the pain, but not to patients who like it.  As far as I know, this is the only film to feature Murray and Martin on screen together. I read that Murray did film scenes for The Jerk, but those scenes were cut.  It might seem weird, but I have sensitive ears when watching Little Shop of Horrors. That is, for whatever reason, the uses ...

As the ending credits begin, we're told that A Simple Twist of Fate was "suggested by the George Eliot's Silas Marner," a Victorian novel written in 1861. The movie was written by Steve Martin, and he also served as the Executive Producer. As far as I can tell, it was a box-office flop. It grossed just $3 million during its limited engagement run, and production cost certainly ran somewhere around $10 million.  No one, in other words, was clamoring for modernized retelling of Silas Marner.  Well, it's been 30 years, but I have actually read that novel, and when I decided to watch this film, it was just because I'm watching Steve Martin movies this year, and I had no idea that the movie had a Silas Marner connection.  Martin studied philosophy in college, and he does seem to have a passion for the classics, including Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac and William Shakespeare's Hamlet, etc.  All that's well and good, but how does this one work as a ...

The one scene I appreciated was when Roger (Steve Martin) needs to win a big case, but he's prepped so much that he falls asleep in the courtroom. Edwina (Lily Tomlin) has died and somehow her spirit has entered his body. She tries to wake up "her other half," but when Roger won't wake up, she takes over and pretends, badly, to be Roger, and she almost wins the case -- until Roger does wake up, and she learns that the reasons for winning would be lie... forcing the case to be lost. Why did Edwina's spirit enter Roger's body? That was an accident. There was always another vessel in mind. But suspend your need to know how and why things happen in this film. Just focus on this: Is it funny? Does the movie hold up? I don't think so. It never kept my attention, really. Martin is in his "The Jerk" mode (just slightly muted). Tomlin is fine, but the only way we can see her spirit is when Martin looks in a mirror. I know this is just a cute way of lettin...

The montage of Lawrence (Michael Caine) teaching Freddy (Steve Martin) how to be a refined gentleman reminded me of the montage of Mr. Miyagi teaching the Karate Kid. I guess I have mixed feelings about this one. Although I've seen it a couple of times before and remember enjoying it, I didn't really remember much from it -- other than the scene with Freddy, as Ruprecht, going to the bathroom at the dining room table. This time around, I found myself enjoying the opening, not being that engaged during the middle, and then liking the ending. What happens towards the ending is rather predictable, but I do like the ending. Caine looks older, and I take it his character is supposed to be older, but in reality, he's only two years older than Martin, whose character, I'm guessing, is supposed to be younger -- in 1988, Caine is 44 and Martin is 42. What I didn't realize until now is that this film is a remake of Bedtime Story (1964), which stars David Niven and Marlon Bran...

Did I watch this last night, or was it a fever dream? I guess I've discovered I want to know what kind of story I'm watching. I expected this one to be something of a comedy. Sometimes I will cheat a little and scroll through Letterboxd reviews or critic reviews. If they write stuff like "dark comedy," then I will expect some sort of comedy element.  I wasn't really seeing that as I watched. I mean, sure, I get that some of it is "dark" and perhaps somewhat absurd/comedic, but I was trying to fit this movie into neo-noir. Ultimately, that's what I think it is. You have Frank (Steve Martin), a dentist with a successful practice, fall for a Susan (Helena Bonham Carter), a drug addict. Is this plausible? Is she really that much more seductive and attractive than Jean (Laura Dern), fiancée and a dental associate that works in his clinic? Does Susan fulfill some sort of fantasy? Does Frank really fall for her just because she will have sex with him in the...

This is a John Hughes film. I never really think about it as such, because Steve Martin and John Candy are front in center in my mind. I should mention that this movie utilizes micro-scenes from known actors very well. By that, I mean, the movie opens with Kevin Bacon and Steve Martin (Neale) racing for the same New York taxi. Bacon is only in the movie for that scene, maybe three minutes tops, but it's a cool scene, and it was nice that Bacon played the part. It seems to add to the movie. Even shorter, Ben Stein plays an airline counter agent. He has one line and is in the movie for less that 20 seconds. But you notice him. The use of "micro-scene performances" by known actors like Bacon and Stein interests me, because sometimes they seem "important" and "useful" when the parts are being played by someone we recognize. Other times, you might notice someone in a movie with a bit part, and you are left wondering, "Why did they bother to agree to be...

I thought of this movie as an invitation to visit Steve Martin's brain. It started out weird, but if you want to see the really weird stuff, check out the John Lithgow deleted scenes. L.A. Story might be an appropriate title, but it's not too memorable. I remember "Dirty Rotten Scandals" and "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," but when I woke up the next morning, it took me a minute to remember what this film was called. It works within the Rom Com genre, and it features Harris (Steve Martin) and Sara (Victoria Tennant). He's a "wacky weekend weatherman," -- you have to be wacky in L.A., because the weather supposedly never changes. She's a British journalist in L.A. on assignment. In real life, Martin and Tennant were actually married when this film was made; I read a review or two that suggested that maybe Tennant wasn't the best person to cast in the role, but I thought she was fine, and a good contrast to Sandy (Sarah Jessica Parker)...

Steve Martin was 34 when he played Navin in The Jerk (1979) -- probably 10 or 15 years too old for the role in my opinion. He's over-the-top and basically the Steve Martin of the "wild and crazy guy" stage show, not yet an actor. Thirty years later, he plays Adam in It's Complicated. His "wild-and-craziness" is limited to about a 5-second scene when he's on the dance floor after taking a hit. Otherwise, he plays the part with quietness and total reserve. It's just amazing to see how far he came as an actor, but 30 years prior, he could only be "on," and over his acting career, he learned how to shift gears. He didn't always have to be his persona. He could act. In a way, Steve Martin's acting journey reminds me somewhat of Robin Williams's -- both are known for being completely over-the-top, but both learned how to take on serious roles. I really liked this movie. The focus of the film is on Jane (Meryl Streep) and Jake (Alec Ba...

Larry (Steve Martin) comes home one day to find his girlfriend, Danielle (Robyn Douglass) in bed with Raul (Richard Delmonte). She tells him to leave, and he does, taking out the trash on his way out, as she instructed him to do. Fifteen minutes after being dumped, he runs into Jack (Steve Lawrence), who's out on a stroll with his wife and his girlfriend. He tells Larry that he's heard about Larry's break-up (the one that happened just 15 minutes ago), but not to worry. Danielle has already broken up with Raul. Now she's dating a rock band. It's that kind of movie. Anyway, Larry ends up in the park. He's taking up the right side of a park bench, and here comes Warren (Charles Grodin). He's in the same position as Larry, but he seems a little wiser to what happens next. Warren takes up the left side of the park bench, and the two become fast friends. I love Charles Grodin. Mainly, I remember him for the intentionally awkward segments he would do with Letterma...

It was Marlow (Humphrey Bogart) who tells Rigby (Steve Martin) that dead men don't wear plaid. "What does it mean," asks Rigby rhetorically, "I'm still not sure," he admits. But who wears plaid in film noir, period? No one. Maybe it would ruin the feng shui. So the "gimmick" of this movie -- the "seamless" blending of archival footage from classic films -- is actually pretty cool, and if it's been done before or since, I'm not aware. The closest thing to it I can think of is how Forest Gump is integrated into historical events... but Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a groundbreaking film with the technique being utilized, and I don't think it's ever been attempted again. In Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Martin gets to "interact" with maybe 15 or 20 classic actors -- from Bogart and Cary Grant and James Cagney to Barbara Stanwyck and Veronica Lake and Ingrid Bergman. It's a real sight to see, and I can imagin...

After watching Sgt. Bilko and hearing what my friends had to say about The Jerk (1979), I realized that I was too harsh in my assessment of The Jerk. It had a lot of funny bits, and yes, it might even be a homage to Citizen Kane, for Pete's sake. Sgt. Bilko might have its defenders too, but for now, I'm not going to be one of them. The movie is based on the 1950s TV series, and I can imagine a Steve Martin as a young boy watching that show, much like I would have been watching Gomer Pyle, USMC, at the same age. But somehow, I never got into the characters or the story. I'm a big fan not only of Martin, but also his costars in this one, Phil Hartman and Dan Akroyd. Nothing about their characters intrigues me, however, and this is also one of the rare films that even Martin admits that maybe the concept just didn't work. What was it about the 1990s? Did any of us make it through that decade unscathed? Thanks, Nirvana.

I felt like I missed something with this one. In Roger Ebert's review of The Jerk (1979), he indicated that the audience reaction to comedy is subjective in movies. I thought that was an odd observation, but his observation might have been an apology for him not finding the humor in The Jerk. Then, in his review for Bowfinger, Ebert wrote that the comedy "works on all cylinders." Well, now I'm the one wondering what I missed, because I just didn't find it all that funny. I like the basic premise: Bowfinger (Steve Martin) is a director that's never made a movie. He's got an idea to make a movie with Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy), one of the hottest African American actors working in Hollywood, but the catch is, he will make the film without Ramsey ever knowing he's in it, because Ramsey would never make a movie for an unknown director like Bowfinger. The idea is absurd, but it's interesting to see how this film is able to make the concept "work....

Steve Martin's first movie features him as the wild and crazy guy from his comedy show, not Steve Martin the actor. That's my main issue with this one, I think. He screams and yells throughout the movie, and it's just annoying to watch. The persona might work on stage, but it doesn't work on screen. In Roger Ebert's review, he notes that he didn't find this movie to be all that funny, but that it might be a "love it or hate it" type of comedy. If you like Steve Martin's comedy, and I do, I'm sure original audiences were more likely to be a little more forgiving. But in terms of longevity, I just don't think this movie has "it." It opens with a stand-up routine joke -- that he's the son of poor black Mississippi sharecroppers. When he leaves home, they do tell him he's adopted, and that makes him feel better, in a sense, because he never understood why he didn't like the Blues. He like lame white Big Band music, and so ...

When you're dating someone, how much do you know about them? Maybe that's the point. It's why you date them, to find out.  Davis (Steve Martin) and Becky (Dana Delany) seem to have a dating advantage -- having known each other from birth. Davis has always felt like Becky is "the One" and rather than propose with a ring, he proposes with a house that he, as an architect, has designed himself.  He must not have known her as he thought he did, because she says no, which throws his world into chaos.  As a sidenote, he builds the house in their small hometown. It's a place where everyone knows them, and everyone knows everyone's business. Steve might work and keep an apartment in the City, but Becky still lives in the small town. It's just amazing that he was able to build the house for Becky without anyone ever finding out or gossiping about it.  But once Becky rejects Davis, the real story begins. Gwen (Goldie Hawn) is a Hungarian waitress that Davis meet...

Kids don't get the parents they want or need; that seems to be a common idea, and the Buckman kids certainly didn't have the best dad. On the other hand, maybe parents don't get the kids they want or need. Everyone seems to be something of a disappointment to everyone else, and in the end, everyone may be too self-centered to be the person that others need them to be. Is that the message of this film? Gil (Steve Martin) doesn't want to turn into his dad Frank (Jason Robards). He wants to spend time with his kids. He wants to be a good dad. Even though he tries hard, he still isn't able to have perfect kids. That bugs him. Frank knows he wasn't the perfect dad. That might bug him, too, but in a rare heart-to-heart, he tells Gil that parenthood never ends. His 27-year old son, Larry, is kind of deadbeat with a gambling problem. Frank wants to be there for him and makes him a deal. Larry, however, isn't able to change. He just takes off. Frank can't do anyt...

The lighting and shading in this movie are amazing. Great use of colors. I watched this movie as a kind of modern-day fairy tale, with Claire Danes playing the role of a modern-day Cinderella... Mirabelle (Claire Danes) and Jeremy (Jason Swartzman) are both in their mid-twenties. Ray (Steve Martin) is in his 50s. A weird Mirabelle love triangle develops. Mirabelle has nothing in common with Jeremy, and she's way too young for Ray, but he is also the man of her "dreams," in terms of a man who has the means and the experience she's looking for to make her feel seen and important. I think we're supposed to feel uncomfortable about the age difference. Ray even comments at the first date that he hopes she has a good relationship with her father, so he's uncomfortable by the age difference. too. Ray's house is immaculately clean. And sterile. It feels empty and unlived in. When he gives Mirabelle the tour, everything is in its place. He saves the bedroom for las...