Andrew McCarthy

  • The Sight (2000)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, February 2022) Director Paul W. S. Anderson gets a lot of flak for his low-brow action movies (having produced-directed-written a series of Resident Evil movies will do that) but there are interesting exceptions in his filmography. Made-for-TV The Sight may be one of the lesser-known ones. Meant as a pilot for a series that was never picked up, it follows an American architect as he travels to London and discovers that he’s been chosen as the human representative for a group of ghosts trying to right injustice. While not the most original of premises, there’s something to the execution of the film that makes it halfway interesting. Andrew McCarthy is moderately likable as the lead, but the prime role goes to the City of London, and the idea of a fellowship of ghosts trying to effect positive change on the world. This is the first time I’ve seen a well-known Londonian architectural distinction (the replacement of WW2-bombed buildings with more modern ones) used as part of a plot, and the not-entirely-negative repercussions of ghostly influences is something that would have been interesting to see play out. Visually, the film is audacious for 2000, which means that some of the material will definitely look dated today—whether the poor image quality of the version I saw is an artefact of its TV origins or a result of the older French dub shown on a channel known for poor image quality is something I don’t know. Still, I was expecting the very worst of the film and was pleasantly surprised at a few ideas, set-pieces and moments. For Anderson fans, this is worth tracking down. For horror junkies, The Sight has something slightly better than the average to offer.

  • Mannequin (1987)

    Mannequin (1987)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, July 2019) It’s one thing to remain open-minded to the possibility that a film’s execution would rescue an inane premise, but even that fog of possibility disappears after watching Mannequin: What? Were? They? Thinking? The premise is as dumb as it’s simple: What if a mannequin came to life in the presence of our protagonist? That’s it. Of course, the mannequin goes limp in the presence of another person. Of course, there are misunderstandings and caricatural business shenanigans and villains that seem to come out of a kid’s movie. But it’s not much of a comedy—despite a few bright spots, much of the film feels like a particularly dumb take on obvious material. Or at least that’s what happens when the film is not just weird for its own sake—I mean; that ancient Egypt prologue? Whew. At least Andrew McCarthy is likable, Kim Cattrall looks cute and Meshach Taylor gets a few laughs. It’s also interesting that a film would use downtown Philadelphia as its playing ground. But Mannequin never manages to take its premise and transform it into something more than the bare-bones minimum. The script is unimaginative when it’s not crazy (a bad combination), and the directing merely moves plot pieces around without going the extra distance. If Mannequin has any quality, it’s to show you the ground floor of what uninspired 1980s comedies felt like.