I never thought I'd say this, but this Leslie Nielsen comedy is actually worse than "Repossessed", the parody of "The Exorcist" that came and flatlined a decade before this did and nearly put Nielsen back on the list of actors whose career was in danger of being more unpopular than pea soup. Fortunately Nielsen made more wise choices than bad ones, but choosing this film was not one of the former. Perhaps not his fault because gag comedy is probably the most difficult to predict, and while he has the timing, in this case, those gags land like timed stink bombs. He's paired with young Lochlyn Munro as an actor researching a part as a private investigator and aides Nielsen with a murder investigation.
Little spark is ignited by Vanessa Angel as the love interest, and groans, not laughs, come out of the string of bad puns and malapropisms and metaphors that Nielsen rattles off one after another. After the success of "The Naked Gun", a slew of horrible similar style films came out that flopped critically and often commercially. By the time this came out, the genre of verbal comedy had seen it nadir, and the crudeness of much of the dialog brings on groans not giggles. Interesting element to see AND hear Patrick Warburton, the voice of handicapped Joe Swanson on "Family Guy". A few reluctant chuckles doesn't change the fact that this is wretched, although stage actor Tom Aldredge does get laughs with every lime he has as the wheelchair bound Mr. Pond and raises this up one notch.
Little spark is ignited by Vanessa Angel as the love interest, and groans, not laughs, come out of the string of bad puns and malapropisms and metaphors that Nielsen rattles off one after another. After the success of "The Naked Gun", a slew of horrible similar style films came out that flopped critically and often commercially. By the time this came out, the genre of verbal comedy had seen it nadir, and the crudeness of much of the dialog brings on groans not giggles. Interesting element to see AND hear Patrick Warburton, the voice of handicapped Joe Swanson on "Family Guy". A few reluctant chuckles doesn't change the fact that this is wretched, although stage actor Tom Aldredge does get laughs with every lime he has as the wheelchair bound Mr. Pond and raises this up one notch.