Steve Martin

Housesitter (1992)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In French, On TV, December 2020) As the 1980s became the 1990s, Steve Martin’s film career turned from absurd high-concept comedy into a safer, far more mainstream comic fare. In this lens, Housesitter is early evidence of a process that would eventually lead to Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Martin plays an architect who, after designing the ideal house, gets his heart broken and has a one-night stand that results into something much more complicated when she moves into the house and starts saying that she’s his wife. It sounds slightly creepy but the script, as directed by Frank Oz, is about as innocuous as it comes. It helps that Martin is playing opposite a perfectly charming Goldie Hawn, and a gallery of supporting characters out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Martin plays the straight man here, reacting to Hawn’s antics more than acting. The story itself is fair, but the restraint through which it’s executed is almost overbearing – Housesitter is a film that plays it incredibly safe, and could have benefited from a bit more comic audacity. But Martin’s career, as shown here and later films, has been a steady retreat into more broadly accessible fare – still funny, if less so.

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(YouTube Streaming, August 2020) Considering how Little Shop of Horrors is a dark musical comedy featuring quite a bit of affection for a human-eating plant called Audrey, there are many, many ways the film could have gone wrong. Its first achievement is that it didn’t – the second is how good it ends up being. Deftly directed by Frank Oz, the film can at least depend on good performers – some veterans, some lesser-known, but all able to bring their best to their characters. This starts with Rick Moranis as the Nebbish at put-upon Seymour, continues with Ellen Greene’s squeaky-voiced performance as the adorable love interest, goes to a bad-boy supporting role for dark-haired 50s style Steve Martin, and finally to near-cameos by Bill Murray, John Candy and James Belushi. Then add in the bouncy do-wop musical numbers, the sweet romance, the crazy comedy of Martin’s subplot, the constant interruptions by the bloodthirsty talking plant and it all combines for a film that’s ridiculously hard to resist, even knowing it features a human-killing plant. The ending finds a way to culminate the craziness while still delivering a satisfying ending, but it was a close thing: Little Shop of Horror is famous for scrapping a very expensive large-scale original ending (following the off-Broadway play) in which Audrey kills the protagonists and goes on to conquer the world. It’s entertaining in a you-lost-the-game bad-ending kind of way, but it’s not the one most appropriate to the film, and hurrah to whatever studio interference that led to a revised climax. Get the physical version of the film that has both, and you’ll decide by yourself.

The Lonely Guy (1984)

The Lonely Guy (1984)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, July 2020) The mid-1980s were about as good as things ever got in terms of pure film comedy from Steve Martin, and The Lonely Guy is a fairly representative example (I didn’t say the best) of the kind of comedy he was turning going for—familiar yet off-kilter, self-satisfied, ingratiating but quite funny if you’re on the right wavelength. This time, Martin turns to romantic comedy as the clothesline for the silliness in store—focusing on the plight of a newly single guy trying to find love in Manhattan. The difference between 1980s Martin and later-day Martin is that the earlier comedian wasn’t afraid to be more adventurous in his type of humour. Not everything works, obviously, but with director Arthur Hiller, there’s an effort to try a few things, be absurd, play with expectations and even revisit old gags. I found it all quite amusing. I remembered the restaurant “dining alone” scene from childhood, but not the rest of The Lonely Guy.

Mixed Nuts (1994)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In French, On Cable TV, May 2020) I’m somewhat nonplussed by Mixed Nuts. It’s a weird, very Americanized adaptation of the pitch-black French Christmas comedy classic Le père Noël est une ordure (which I haven’t seen in ages), set in snowless Los Angeles on Christmas Eve. Much of the weirdness is due to it being pulled in two different directions—the very dark comedy of the original (which ends with body parts of a serial killer being wrapped up in Christmas packaging and fed to zoo animals) and the innocuous audience-friendly style of writer-director Nora Ephron. I mean—this doesn’t feel like an appropriate match, and it isn’t. What were they thinking? This is the kind of premise (dark comedy hijinks at a suicide prevention hotline on the day before Christmas) that calls for a low-budget anarchic approach, not a glossy Ephron-style comedy. This is nowhere as dark as it should be, and it’s wrongly engineered for guiltless Christmas cheer. The high-budget slick approach also ensures that the film is made to be safe, and that, in turns, means that its approach to two sensitive topics—mental health and transgenderism—now feels half-outdated rather than transgressive. (It’s not as bad as it could have been—Liev Schreiber’s transwoman character is treated with some respect—but it clearly wouldn’t be remade the same way today.) As a result, the comedy feels both forced and neutered, and the laughs usually take the form of mildly amused smiles. But even then, as the film’s title jokes on my behalf, Mixed Nuts is also a grab-bag of other, more interesting bites: The cast is admittedly impressive, with a mixture of names that were familiar at the time (dark-haired Steve Martin as the hotline director, Rita Wilson as the attractive co-worker with a crush, Juliette Lewis, Madeline Khan and Rob Reiner), and other ascending actors used in sometimes small roles (Adam Sandler doing ukulele, a Steven Wright cameo, Parker Posey and Jon Stewart as rollerbladers, Haley Joel Osment and others.) Martin and Wilson, in particular, get nice roles even in the middle of a confused comedy. Still, The biggest takeaway I’m getting from Mixed Nuts is that I need to re-watch Le père Noël est une ordure soon.

Sgt. Bilko (1996)

Sgt. Bilko (1996)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On TV, March 2020) One of the endearing things about the United States is their ability to be self-critical… at least once in a while. In-between the militarism of the national culture, you can find a surprisingly robust subculture of acid military comedy (Catch-22, Stripes, Buffalo Soldiers, Jarhead, etc.) taking potshots at the institution, its profligate waste and meaningless traditions. This is a lot of weight to place on a silly comedy like Sgt. Bilko (although, as the credits say, “The filmmakers gratefully acknowledge the total lack of cooperation from the United States Army.”), but I have a feeling that it wouldn’t have been a viable commercial project if it wasn’t for the veteran masses, who understand all too well what goes on within the US armed forces. Still, Sgt. Bilko wouldn’t be nearly as funny as it is without the match between Steve Martin and the titular character, a fast-talking smart-aleck trickster figure who happens to make US Army money flow in his direction. It’s quite a character, and it allows Martin to play up a good chunk of his physical comedy powers—in many ways, this plays closer to 1980s-era Martin than the syrupy family-friendly films he did increasingly often during the 1990s. (Not that Sgt. Bilko isn’t family-friendly—the film is rated PG despite its institutional anarchism.) In addition to the great cast (Dan Aykroyd, Phil Hartman, Glenne Headly and others), it’s a real pleasure to see Martin tear into the material—pratfalls, wisecracks, sure-footed self-confidence rampaging through anyone trying to trap him. But there we succumb once again to social analysis: Bilko is a symbol of what happens when unshackled self-interested capitalism makes its way inside the socialist enclave of military administration meant to provide benefits for all. Yes, Sgt. Bilko is a silly, fun, slightly dumb family comedy. But it also works as something more, and there’s where lies the interest of the film.

Pennies from Heaven (1981)

Pennies from Heaven (1981)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, March 2020) There are times when I want to take a position against a film not necessarily because it’s terribly made or bad at what it tries to do, but as a statement against its very intent. I get that not everyone likes musicals, for instance (what’s wrong with you?), and there are several valid statements to be made against the way the 1930s, mired as they were in depression-era economics, still produced some exceptionally escapist entertainment that scrupulously avoided mentioning the ongoing crisis. But making a movie with the intention of dismantling 1930s musicals is not a way to get on my good side, and that’s what Pennies from Heaven wants to do. A serious dark-haired Steve Martin stars alongside Bernadette Peters and Christopher Walken, but the film proves to be a waste of all three. Determined to drag viewers through the muck in-between fantasy sequences borrowing liberally from 1930s musicals, this is a film that features economic desperation, prostitution, abortion, murder, rape, and the innocent being hanged in time for the end of the film. As a concept, this is terrible—akin to seeing someone rip up a favourite book, setting fire to a great painting or defecating on something you hold dear. I have to wonder at what they were thinking in greenlighting this project. The only explanation I can find is that this was New Hollywood’s double-fisted parting screw-you to an era they could never hope to match. Oh yes, make no mistake—I utterly despise Pennies from Heaven for having the unearned audacity to criticize something greater than itself. Ironically, the films’ set-pieces are much better than how the entire film wants to make you feel: Three musical numbers (all fantasies) stand out, whether it’s Martin’s terrific tap-dancing, Peters’ slinky classroom fancy or Walken’s dance-strip. That’s what happens when you stop being nihilistic and actually try to do as well as the thing you’re criticizing. Pennies from Heaven, for all of its considerable sins, was a significant box-office bomb, which is something that anyone aware of the film’s intention could have predicted. Unfortunately, it did not contribute to a revival of the movie musical in the 1980s. Which is reason enough to loathe the film even more. Fred Astaire hated the film, and when you annoyed Astaire, you knew you had screwed up.

L.A. Story (1991)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On TV, March 2020) Sweet and occasionally absurd, Steve Martin’s L.A. Story is what happens when a comedian decides to satirize his Los Angeles experience. Martin stars and wrote the script, and his specific touch can be found in the silly scenes that depart from reality (a communicating billboard, highway shootout scenes) in order to back up the film’s romantic comedy. It’s a lot like Martin’s Roxanne in some ways. It’s romantic in a somewhat unusual register of wisecracks accompanied by magical realism and disarmingly cute sentimentalism: Martin earns the right to do one by doing the other. The cinematography is evocative of a semi-fantastic Los Angeles, and Martin gets plenty of co-stars, supporting players of cameos to strengthen the film—with a nod toward Sarah Jessica Parker and Victoria Tennant. One suspects that L.A. Story is filled with inside jokes that will only make sense to actors working in circa-1990 Los Angeles, but those feel like depth rather than whooshing references. Sure, the early-1990s fashions, jokes and visuals can be outdated—but they’re now equally apt to be charming, much like the rest of this wonderful film.

Father of the Bride Part II (1995)

Father of the Bride Part II (1995)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In French, on TV, August 2019) While the 1991 remake of Father of the Bride was an unexpected success cleverly balancing modern filmmaking technique with the good-natured message of the original 1950 film, I can’t be so positive about the sequel. Taking elements from the original sequel (does that phrase even make sense?), 1951’s Father’s Little Dividend, this Father of the Bride Part II ultimately goes a bit too crazy in adding elements of its own, muddling what should have been a clear focus for a sequel and cranking up the frantic nature of the film to eleven, which again misses the point of what it should be doing. The natural development of this sequel is to have our middle-aged protagonist confront the fact that he’s about to become a grandfather, and that happens in the first few minutes of the film. So far so good—and with Steve Martin being able to play comedy as much as the light melodrama of that kind of premise, it looks as if we’re in good hands. But then this remake/sequel strikes out on territory of its own, and that’s when things start falling apart. For the film’s big idea is to make the protagonist a new father at a very late age, with his wife (played by Diane Keaton, 49 at the time of the film’s release) announcing news of her pregnancy alongside her daughter. I have two big problems with that. For one thing, late pregnancies such as those are not comic material—the high risks to the mom and baby in so-called geriatric pregnancies are significant (not to mention health issues with the baby, even with an uneventful pregnancy) and don’t fit within the comic tone of the film. Even if you can gloss over those medical issues (as the film does), a pregnancy at an advanced maternal age is cause for significant concerns in terms of life trajectory, finances and lifestyle, something that Father of the Bride Part II doesn’t want to address in any significant fashion despite presenting the expectant couple as empty nesters early in the film. But even if you also manage to sweep that issue under the rug, the more salient point is that this creative decision blows a hole in the thematic foundation of the film. I’m not sure about you, but any concerns about becoming a grandfather would be eclipsed almost entirely by becoming a fifty-something father. Watching Father of the Bride Part II becomes actively difficult, because the characters don’t seem to be behaving as humans would. Even discounting the heightened comic tone of the film, the outrageous supporting characters and the deer-in-headlights mugging of Steve Martin, it’s hard to perceive it as just an amiable family comedy when it rings so false. At that point, it’s even redundant to compare it to any of its predecessors, except to point out that they at least had some sense in not escalating the comedy to ludicrous levels. Maybe it’ll work differently on you, but as far as I’m concerned, Father of the Bride Part II is more dumbfounding than amusing.

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, April 2019) I’m not sure there’s anything meaningful to say about Cheaper by the Dozen 2. It’s very much what it wants to be: a sequel to the 2003 Steve Martin version of Cheaper by the Dozen, a lowest-common-denominator family comedy working in the broadest possible comic register. While the result will be a hit for kids, anyone over the age of eight is likely to be bored by the obvious jokes you can see coming from miles away, the obvious plot threads and the complete lack of surprise. It is what it wants to be—an innocuous family comedy with a nostalgic bent, far too many characters to properly develop beyond a few gags, with a familiar soundtrack telling us what to feel if we’re not too sure. Martin himself seems to be daring himself to mug it up as widely as possible, perhaps in a kind of performance art piece echoing the kind of Dadaistic stand-up he did earlier in his career. It is fun to see Eugene Levy also hamming it up as an antagonist, and a few familiar names in smaller roles. Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is not much, but then again—if you start watching a sequel, you know what to expect, for better or for worse.

Parenthood (1989)

Parenthood (1989)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, April 2019) At first, Parenthood looks like your usual middle-of-the-road Steve Martin comedy, with enough silliness and hijinks to cover up a lack of thematic intentions. Much like Cheaper by the Dozen, in fact. But as Parenthood develops, it gains a significant amount of sentiment and profundity as a multifaceted exploration of parenthood from toddlers to, well, far older kids. There’s quite a bit of Martin silliness (including a rather triumphant sequence as a fake cowboy that finally gets the character to earn a win after a film designed to undercut him at each instance) but it’s all in the service of larger interests. You can see the deeper themes at play in the film’s very entertaining daydream sequences, two of them contrasting extremes of fatherhood success. But it’s not all laughter as the film touches upon some dramatic material even as it’s designed as a comedy—parental anxiety is a real thing. With an ensemble cast but a stronger more interconnected plot than many episodic films, Parenthood steadily gains steam throughout its run. It helps when it knocks holes to deepen its initially-stock characters, such as when a teenage Keanu Reeves delivers sage advice to a young and nearly unrecognizable Joaquin Phoenix. Mary Steenburgen is as lovely as ever, while Dianne West delivers an Oscar-nominated performance. All told, Parenthood delivers more than what you could expect from later-era Steve Martin comedies—it’s occasionally silly for sure, but it does deliver on more nuanced material as well.

Roxanne (1987)

Roxanne (1987)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In French, On TV, February 2019) As far as Cyrano de Bergerac remakes go, Roxanne is a better than average reimagining of the basic plot in a completely different environment, which is to say a mid-1980s Washington state small town. (Naturally, it’s filmed in British Columbia.) The deliberately idyllic environment features a gifted man with a prominent nose (Steve Martin, ably carrying the panache required for the role of Cyrano), struggling with his romantic intentions toward another resident and dragged into impersonation when a good-looking but dull romantic rival shows up. The plot is classic, but its reinterpretation is very well done: Actors have to play Cyrano with a formidable strength of character, and Martin (who also wrote the script) gets a few fantastic set pieces to himself, whether it’s an opening sword fight (in contemporary America, yes) or a no-holds-barred verbal joust in which he vanquishes his opponent through overwhelming self-deprecation. Martin is clever enough to make the character vulnerable in other ways, and it’s this internal conflict more than the romantic drama that drives the film forward. The film is predictably less interesting in its last half (in which the arcs must be resolved) than the more character-focused opening, but it’s well done enough to be funny, charming and compelling at once. Good actors help support Martin, with Kelly Preston in particular being quite good as the titular Roxanne. The whimsical atmosphere of the film helps a lot in ensuring that Roxanne doesn’t feel particularly dated even today.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, November 2018) Tone and atmosphere are crucial to comedies, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels manages to keep up a delicate balance between its reprehensible hijinks and the charm of its lead actors hamming it up on the sunny French Riviera. Pleasantly harkening back to earlier decades (it’s a remake of the 1964 comedy Bedtime Story with added complications), it’s a comedy that leaves plenty of room for stars Michael Caine and Steve Martin to riff on their own comic personas, especially when they portray conmen with vindictive streaks. Their banter is infectiously fun, and they manage to neutralize most of the contempt that we would hold for such criminal characters. Glenne Headly is also quite good as the completing piece of the romantic triangle, although it’s a role that requires her to fly under the radar for a while before taking centre-stage in the finale. The French Riviera seems to be a supporting character in its own right, providing the right backdrop for the kind of breezy comedy that director Frank Oz intended. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels may not be all that deep (although there’s enough plot to keep things interesting even for those who have seen the original), but it’s well-executed enough to keep audiences smiling.

Three Amigos (1986)

Three Amigos (1986)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(Second viewing, On DVD, October 2018) It’s easy to see why noted film buff/historian John Landis would jump at the occasion to direct Three Amigos—among many other things, it’s a chance for him to re-create a small part of Hollywood history, specifically the early days of silent comedy films. Add to that the idea of satirizing Seven Samurai, as well as working with comedians such as Martin Short, Chevy Chase and Steve Martin … it certainly looks like a great project. Alas, the final version of Three Amigos is missing something. It’s not dull or bad, but it’s certainly duller and worse than it could and should have been. When I saw the movie as a teenager, my favourite sequence (and the only one I could remember thirty years later aside from the salute) was the one with the signing bush and the (fallen) Invisible Gunman. As a middle-aged man, it’s still my favourite sequence, and I think it shows just how wild and absurdly funny the rest of the film could have been—I liked the too-brief look at silent Hollywood, but I would have enjoyed Three Amigos far more if its tone had been consistent with the crazy singing bush/invisible man sequence. The rest often feels perfunctory and well-mannered despite a few good stunts and the potential to go beyond the obvious. Would it have been so hard to do just a bit more?

Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(Second viewing, On TV, May 2018) screenwriter/director John Hughes’ Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a comedy classic for a reason—it makes great use of two comic actors (Steve Martin and John Candy), features a series of memorable sequences, plays on universal annoyances and doesn’t forget to add a little bit of sentiment toward the end to temper the comedy. Everyone can relate to uncontrollable delays and setbacks in trying to get home for the holidays, and Hughes pushes it to the limit in describing what else can happen to two harried travellers. (The film reaches a comic apex of sort during its fiery highway sequence.)  Martin plays exasperated as well as Candy plays exasperator, and the result couldn’t be better. It’s not a complex film, and it works largely because of this straightforwardness. It’s worth another viewing every few thanksgivings.

The Jerk (1979)

The Jerk (1979)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, July 2017) My history of film comedy is shaky, but if I recall correctly, The Jerk was an early example of the idiot-protagonist subgenre, especially as executed as a continuous series of gags. Steve Martin was trying to broaden his appeal beyond stand-up comedy at the time, but the film he wrote ended up reflecting his gag-a-minute sensibilities, with a generous side dish of absurdity. Does it still work? Well, sort-of: While comedy audiences today are far more used to rapid-fire idiot comedies (Will Ferrell’s career comes to mind), The Jerk acts as a prototype of the form and, as such, can feel a bit slack compared to later examples. Its eagerness to throw everything on-screen to see what sticks can feel desperate, and it does have strange ideas about pacing that occasionally stop the film dead. It’s amusing more than funny (although I couldn’t help but laugh audibly at the kitten-juggling moment, probably helped along by the fact that I was caring for a kitten at the time) but it does have a good-natured tone that’s hard to resist even today. Steve Martin is irreplaceable as the title character, and it’s always nice to see Bernadette Peters going for laughs in her prime. The Jerk appealed to a specific kind of viewer back then (i.e.; Steve Martin fans) and while that audience may have grown since then, it’s still not a comedy for everyone. I found the details and throwaway gags funnier than the overall story, but that’s to be expected from a quasi-slapstick comedy.