Perry Kate
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Intcatinfo
A Masterpiece!
TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Benedito Dias Rodrigues
I'm glad to talk about of John Candy,l have almost all his movie even those wasn't so funny,but in this case when he was at its peak of his career is quite good,playing the character as he likes clumsy fat guy,not so smart not so stupid but often funny and enjoyable...in this movie he has the opportunity to prove his worth in a agency that take his family's name, working in a kidnapped case....all embarrassing situations end up a disaster like always...there's a lot of gags and jokes, anyhow l've enjoy the movie...sad to know that John Candy is no longer with us...we're very sorrow about his death.Resume:First watch: 1992 / How many: 6 / Source: TV-Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 6,75
Scarecrow-88
While maybe not as funny as it once was for me when I was a kid, but Candy's dandy in this 80s star vehicle, overshadowed by Uncle Buck in the same year. He's a clueless (for the most part), bumbling private dick called on by kidnapping mastermind Jeffrey Jones who operates as boss of private investigation agency (Candy's ancestors started it but his Harry was working out of a modest Tulsa office with few clients) because he's considered so moronic he couldn't possibly solve the case. Jones wants Barry Corbin's gold-digger wife, Annie Potts (in rare sexpot role), and kidnaps the millionaire's model daughter for a hefty ransom. Shawnee Smith is Corbin's younger daughter, a wise young woman (she's gorgeous) who knows Potts is cheating on her dad, assisting Candy during the investigation. Tim Thomerson is dimbulb tennis pro lover of Potts, helping her plot to kill Corbin. Valri Bromfield is Candy's rival, an experienced cop who considers him out of his depth...their one-upsmanship, insults towards each other, and snarling glances make for fun moments. Candy gets to disguise himself in various characters in order to fish out the truth, including Indian air conditioning repairman, fried-spikey haired window washer, and bald European spa health inspector. Candy has good chemistry with Shawnee, and how he drives Jones crazy (pictures taken with him and Potts while in a ventilation shaft, and the incidents involving dinosaur bones, including pterodactyl egg) gets plenty of laughs. The ceiling fan, his problems with Corbin's fish and lures (and a dartboard mishap), incident involving mud bath and fake hair from his chest to face, trying to fit into a jockey phone booth, dinner table crotch footsies, pictures taken of folks in uncompromising situations that he fails to inspect, among other comedic goodies give Candy fans what they expect. Remember fondly a poster of this film on a rental store window when I was young. Candy made the most of these kinds of films, knowing exactly how to attack scenes where he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, while other times his uncanny memory and stumbling into the truth rescue him from total disaster. Plots for his comedies were average at best, but the cast for this one excels when opposite Candy. Thomerson steals his scenes as someone about as airheaded as Candy. Joe Flaherty, Candy's old pal from the SCTV days, directs this film and has a great cameo as a hotel proprietor who is surprised to find Candy flying at him out of ventilation shaft. The formula for many of these Candy comedies has him enduring slapsticky pratfalls and incidents that would embarrass most. His facial expressions, ad always, are priceless. He was a treasure.
Amy Adler
Eliot (Jeffrey Jones) runs an esteemed detective agency for the Crumb family. The founding Crumbs were exceedingly talented but the present heir and gumshoe, Harry (John Candy) is a bumbling stooge. Therefore, when Eliot arranges a kidnapping of a rich man's daughter, so he and the girl's stepmother (Annie Potts) can run off and get married with money, he makes a suggestion to the gal's wealthy father (Barry Corbin). He, Eliot, will put his BEST detective on the case, namely Harry, and the crime will be solved....NOT. What Eliot doesn't count on is that stepmommy is stringing three men along and, that when Harry teams up with the kidnapped lass' sister, the former bungler may solve the napping. How will it end? All right, some fans may say this is Candy's worst couple of hours and that the film doesn't work. Yes, its a weaker version of The Naked Gun and other such flicks but Candy is a great comedian. So, watching him whip out a bunch of stupid disguises and have a series of physical mishaps, to me, is quite amusing. I laughed and laughed even as I groaned. Jones, Potts, Corbin, and all of the other cast members do "cute" work, too. The setting, costumes, low-brow script and lively direction make a film that is definitely worth watching, especially when one is in the doldrums. The question is not Who's Harry Crumb but where can I get this funny film tonight?
Son_of_Mansfield
It's a shame that he chose to waste his comedic gifts on cheap movies like this. He hits the few goods jokes squarely and trudges through the bad ones like the professional that he is. Jeffrey Jones does the same and plays well off of Candy while Annie Potts is decent as the money seeking wife. Barry Corbin, Tim Thomerson, and Shawnee Smith round out the serviceable cast. It's the script that is the disappointment. One of it's "gems" has Crumb trying to take pictures of a cheating husband for his wife, but ends up taking pictures of the couple together. His response? He says he found the mistress, her. Ha, huh? Whatever. My favorite has to be that Jones' character thinks that the women who personally tried to kill her husband and betrayed the lover she told to do it could ever be trusted. Just because the main character is supposed to be oblivious doesn't mean that entire movie has to be.
