Fletch: What do you mean, toxic waste?
Frank: Well, it's some special stuff. There's only eleven places in the country that makes this shit.
Fletch: Where?... Frank, just give me the ones that aren't in New Jersey.
Frank: Uh, there's only one.
"Driving Miss Daisy" is a historical drama that tells the story of an elderly jewish woman (Jessica Tandy) and her black chauffeur (Morgan Freeman).
The film met tremendous success at the Academy Awards, winning Best Picture and Best Actress (Tandy) while the two male leads received nominations (Freeman and Dan Akroyd, who in a supporting role plays Tandy's practical businessman son).
The story begins in the 1940s. Tandy is about seventy, and wrecks her new car backing out of the driveway. Now uninsurable, Akroyd hires Freeman to be her chauffeur and companion. This leads to a power struggle between Tandy and Freeman, as she refuses to use her hired hand, and tries to keep her independence. Freeman shows massive patience and finally overcomes Tandy's blustering. Freeman should have won the Oscar instead, as his character must ride the line between deference and defiance, and he does it well. Tandy plays the testy but vulnerable Miss Daisy well, but it is an easier role.
Racism is a background subject throughout the film. Tandy stubbornly resists treating Freeman as a friend and equal. She also makes several catty remarks about Christians. The audience is supposed to consider these remarks humorous, but the major difference between her remarks and those of the bigoted policeman is that she is not in a position of power.
Tandy and Freeman do not noticeable age as the first twenty years pass. It is sometimes difficult to tell which decade a scene is taking place in. Another minor problem I had: Tandy asks Freeman to attend a Martin Luther King dinner only at the last minute. Freeman's character shows his stubborness by refusing the invitation. You'd think he'd swallow his pride and attend the dinner. When would he get another chance, and it would be no humilation to attend.
Still, there are many scenes with depth in "Driving Miss Daisy", such as Tandy teaching the illiterate Freeman the connection between letters and words, and Freeman drawing the line with Tandy, telling her that he will park the car to "make water", despite her objections. The script is very good.
By : Brian Koller (http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html)
Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup
Rating: 4
000018||0 In FLETCH LIVES, everybody's favorite investigative reporter is back in action, but unfortunately he's neither better than ever nor new and improved. FLETCH LIVES is a disappointing sequel to the 1985 hit comedy FLETCH, which was a surprisingly engaging Chevy Chase vehicle. With Chase returning in the role of Fletch and with Michael Ritchie serving once again as director, I had hoped that FLETCH LIVES would be better than the average sequel. I should have known better. FLETCH LIVES pales in comparison to the original; someone should have put this sequel out of its misery.
After his dismal outing in so-called FUNNY FARM, you'd think that for the sake of his career, Chase would have learned to avoid the country-side. But no, in FLETCH LIVES he inherits a mansion in Louisiana, which gives him an excuse to quit his crummy job at the paper, pack his chest, and move to the mid-west. In Louisiana, Fletch immediately becomes embroiled in an elaborate and tiresome plot involving the usual mayhem: a murder, a televangelist, a beautiful blonde, a big brute, and a dastardly villain.
Although FLETCH LIVES is genuinely funny at times, more often it flounders and flails. None of the blame, however, falls on Chase, who does his best to evoke laughs in the face of a flat screenplay. Chase gives his character that biting sarcasm and quick wit that made the first film so much fun. And, as in the original, Chase's disguises are simply amazing and his impersonations brilliant. When Chase passes himself off as a faith healer, for example, he's completely unrecognizable, and the scene proves to be one of the few in the movie to offer some inspired humor.
Unfortunately, Chase's efforts are sabotaged by the film's incredibly uneven script and unnecessarily complicated story line. While some of the jokes and gags are effective, most of them fizzle and cater to the lowest common denominator. In fact, FLETCH LIVES hits rock bottom when it commits the unforgivable sin of resorting to nose-picking jokes. FLETCH LIVES also suffers from excess plot; the uncompelling story line should have been merely an excuse for Fletch's irreverent impersonations and wisecracks. But the film devotes so much time and energy to its uncompelling plot that the comic moments often get lost in the shuffle.
Ultimately, there's very little to recommend in FLETCH LIVES as the movie fails to give us either sympathetic characters or sufficient laughs.
