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| Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup | | Rating: 5
| Nobody does comedy like Steve Martin, and nobody writes comedy like Steve Martin, either. His comedy is borderline wacky, and he is the expert at physical humor, but unlike Jim Carrey he knows when to contain himself, how to make a real character, and how to make those zany qualities work just right.
His writing is dazzling and offbeat and wacky and outrageous. Part of my computer's harddrive is dedicated to old Steve Martin albums from "Saturday Night Live" and his standup routines. I give him credit for coming up with the word "Google" in his "Googlephonics" skit. But anyway.
"L.A. Story" (1991) is Martin's homage to Los Angeles. It's a slapstick comedy and a touching romance story. Sometimes we get jokes nearing ridiculous, and sometimes we get moments of pure reality. Normally this uneven blending of two very different genres would never work, but give the guy credit for making it work splendidly well.
In "L.A. Story," Martin plays Wacky Weatherman Harris K. Telemacher, the type of loony guy you sometimes wish would take the place of those boring meterologists on your local news channel that point at their boards and seem as if they're about to fall asleep. Harris has got it all, living the highlife in rich L.A. with a beautiful gal (Marilu Henner) and a great job. But then, one day, he's fired, his girlfriend dumps him for his agent (Kevin Pollack), and he's got nowhere to go in life.
That's when he meets Sara (Victoria Tennant, Martin's real-life wife), a British journalist researching L.A. for a news article. Harris takes her on a tour of L.A. "Some of these buildings are over twenty years old," he says.
Harris also sparks a relationship with a young ditz named SanDeE* (Sarah Jessica Parker), who doesn't care if she's being used as long as she's having fun. She twirls around and does cartwheels and makes Harris feel young again.
And thrown together with all this is an electronic highway sign. The sign gives Harris a riddle to unscramble throughout the film, and when the answer is finally revealed it's pure Steve Martin humor.
Steve Martin has a way of parodying anything. I laughed so hard at "L.A. Story" I cried; but then the movie takes a break from being silly and throws in lots of romance and such. But, unlike other movies, it seems to fit perfectly. It's beautiful and offbeat. It sort of reminds me of last year's "Punch-Drunk Love," only "L.A. Story" seems to have a bit more purpose and the characters are a lot more likable. It's also a lot funnier.
This is probably one of the most quotable films of all time. It's not as good as Martin's "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987), but I'll admit that Martin's writing lends better one-liners than the former (which is strangely funnier, though). I just can't get enough of Steve Martin's wonderful wit. Every time you think that "L.A. Story" is settling down to go into the typical romantic comedy cliches, such as the slow-motion shower scene with the beautiful woman splashing her wet hair over the camera, something happens. (In this case, we see Harris in HIS shower, bathing himself and glancing down at the tap. One knob says "Slow Motion," he turns it, and suddenly he's splashing over his hair and the camera in slow motion.)
The movie features cameos ranging from Rick Moranis (who has starred in four films with Martin), Patrick Stewart, Woody Harrelson and even Chevy Chase. The best is undoubtedly Moranis' British gravedigger ("Finally," Harris says, "a funny gravedigger!") I wouldn't want to ruin some of the scenes or quotes, but the beginning sequence with Harris in his car, swerving through neighbors' backyards and sidewalks and down stairs to avoid rush hour traffic, had me laughing hysterically, and so did a scene where he grabs a handgun from his glove compartment and gets in a road duel with a delivery truck.
They key to all this humor, I think, is how delightfully over the top and realistic it is. Martin finds a funny social topic -- such as restaurant booking procedures -- and stretches it out into the absurd. And you know what? It works. Because it's Steve Martin. And Steve Martin has hit gold with "L.A. Story." Fans and non-fans alike will love this movie. And I'm going to end with a quote from the film:
"Sitting there at that moment I thought of something else Shakespeare said. He said, 'Hey...life is pretty stupid; with lots of hubbub to keep you busy, but really not amounting to much.' Of course, I'm paraphrasing: 'Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.'"
I love that wild wit.
By : John Ulmer (http://www.wiredonmovies.com/)
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| | Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup | | Rating: 4
| L.A. STORY (1991), a beautiful parody and homage written by and starring Steve Martin, opens to a carefully choreographed water ballet of lawn sprinklers.
As L.A. wakes for another morning of glorious California sun, the image is subtitled "Los Angeles, California, Temperature 72 degrees." We see Los Angelenos going about their morning routines, switching from one sleepy guy in shorts busily dragging his Christmas tree to the curb to a suit who chats away on his cell phone as the stretched limo he is riding in is being towed.
"I live in Los Angeles, and I've had 7 heart attacks -- all imagined," explains meteorologist Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin). "That is to say, I was deeply unhappy, but I didn't know it because I was happy all the time."
"When the weather dropped to 58 degrees this weekend, how did you cope?" asks Harris in a man-on-the-street interview. As a wacky television weatherman, he fits right in with the area's "culture." Even so, he is almost fired by the show's producer, played devilishly by a candy sucking and Hawaiian shirt wearing Woody Harrelson, when the producer claims Harris was doing some intellectual thing during another of his slapstickish weather reports.
In a film so rich that it would take at least three viewings to sift through all of the humor and subtleties, the show's subtext is highly romantic and poignant. The humor is presented with such delicious seriousness that it becomes almost an anthropological exploration of West Coast tribes. ("Hi, my name is Bob," chirps Dennis Dragon as a saccharinely polite thief. "I'll be your robber.") The resulting film by director Mick Jackson is so funny that I could not control myself at times -- one belly laugh would not subside before another began.
In a completely plastic city, where Harris drives a hundred yards to his next door neighbor's house, he meets his would-be wife, Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant), who has just arrived from her home in London. She shocks the locals by saying exactly what is on her mind.
When not attempting to date someone his own age, Harris goes out with Sandy, who, after all, is just "4 years shy of 27." Although the credits list her as "Sandy," she carefully writes her name for Harris as "SanDeE" with a star at the end and a heart encasing the name. Sarah Jessica Parker, who has been too often miscast as she was in THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE, plays free spirit SanDeE with perfection. The woman is incapable of standing still and constantly dances and twirls, while throwing her long, curly hair about. Having not a care in the world and not burdened with excessive brain power, she lives an experiential lifestyle.
An electronic highway sign plays perhaps the sweetest, and certainly the most unusual character in the story. The sign gives Harris prescient advice and even speaks in riddles -- unscramble "How Daddy is Doing," commands the sign.
The show is full of well chosen cameos by known actors playing against type. Rick Moranis, in a Hamlet take-off, appears as a gravedigger with a thick English accent. Best is Patrick Stewart as the maitre d' of a restaurant so exclusive that Harris has to accompany him to the maitre d's bank (Fourth Reich of Hamburg) to review Harris's financial statement before he can get a reservation. And since his is deemed deficient in several areas, he can order only a limited number of items on the menu, and certainly not the duck.
Thanks to the sparkling and romantic cinematography by Andrew Dunn, the picture has a magical sense of wonderment about life. Amidst all the humor is a sensitive story about a man in search of meaning for his life. And in a quest for love. ("Forget for this moment the smog and the cars and the restaurant and the skating and remember only this. A kiss may not be the truth, but it is what we wish were true.")
"Wow, that was something!" says Harris as the show draws to its delightful conclusion. "That was really something!" As my newfound friends faded away, I thought, "My sentiments exactly!"
L.A. STORY runs a fast 1:35. It is rated PG-13 for very brief nudity and a little profanity. The show has so much mature humor that I think kids would need to be nine or ten to appreciate it. I strongly recommend this gem to you and give it *** 1/2.
By : Steve Rhodes
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