Lea Thompson

  • Howard the Duck (1986)

    Howard the Duck (1986)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Second Viewing, On TV, June 2020) Moviegoers are a forgiving and indulgent lot, but some movies, like Howard the Duck, simply ask for too much. Starting from a juvenile and irritating script with few surprises, it simply adds to its troubles by asking us to believe in a duck protagonist badly executed through dwarf actors and a grotesque costume. Ugh. A modern CGI-heavy remake may do slightly better… but not that much better, given the film’s heavy-handed approach to its humour (every joke underlined twice), confused tone (raunchy humour in a kid’s movie) and blunt-force plotting. But here’s the question: despite all of this, does it have charm? Well, maybe. Lea Thompson looks terrific in mid-1986 fashion and Tim Robbins turns in a remarkably embarrassing performance. There are a few amusing moments and the film does have a “have you seen this?” quality that’s hard to dismiss. Still, while not atrocious, Howard the Duck remains deeply misguided—even being indulgent (which is not the same thing as being ironic), it’s still asking for a lot.

  • The Beverly Hillbillies (1993)

    The Beverly Hillbillies (1993)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, March 2020) I was frankly expecting the worst from The Beverly Hillbillies and ended up pleasantly surprised—the TV series that served as inspiration is known as a paragon of low-brow humour, and the very premise of Arkansas hillbillies striking oil and becoming rich enough to move to Beverly Hills seems custom-made for dumb humour. The good news isn’t that the film isn’t stupid, because it is—it’s that there’s some cleverness underlying the intentional stupidity. Of course, keep in mind that the film is directed by Penelope Spheeris, whose other films show a considerable amount of wit. The Beverly Hillbillies is clearly not as smart as in Wayne’s World here, but at least there’s the feeling that someone is paying attention to shore up what could have been worse. There’s constant self-awareness of the silliness of the script and plenty of winks at the audience even as the slapstick is going down. Making the most out of the limitations of the premise they’ve been handed, nearly every actor in the cast brings their A-game to the material. Special mention goes to Dietrich Bader, Erika Eleniak, Cloris Leachman, Lily Tomlin and Lea Thompson in various ways, some of them exceeding expectations (Eleniak), meeting them (Bader), looking cute (Thompson) or just being rocks of dependable humour (Leachman, Tomlin). Not everything works (there’s some crossdressing material that clearly reads as transphobic today) but if your tolerance for broad dumb comedy in which predictability is comforting, then The Beverly Hillbillies is a better film than you think. It works even better if your expectations are down on the floor.

  • Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)

    Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2019) Now that I’ve seen Some Kind of Wonderful, I think I’ve completed the high points of my John Hughes filmography. Hugues only wrote this film (it was directed by Hughes stalwart Howard Deutch), but it’s clearly his movie, and a response to previous scripts of his. Eric Stoltz stars as an unconventional teenager lusting after the unapproachable girl in his class yet blind to the affection of his own tomboy best friend. It’s not a complicated premise (and you already know how it’s going to end) but it’s the details and the performances along the way that make it worthwhile. Lea Thompson and Mary Stuart Masterson make for a ridiculously good pair of duelling romantic interests for the protagonist, while Craig Sheffer plays the unlikable ex-boyfriend perfectly and Elias Koteas has a surprisingly engaging turn as a skinhead. There are a few rough spots along the way (I’m not happy about the 180 romantic turn that the film takes very late—I mean, I know where it was going to end, but I just wish the transition would have been smoother), but if you like the 1980s Hughes teen comedies, Some Kind of Wonderful is probably one of his savvier scripts even if it lacks the spark that made some of his other movies become classics.