Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.6.2.16 $; site ism70.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!think!ism70!steven From: steven@ism70.UUCP Newsgroups: net.movies Subject: notes on Brewster's Millions Message-ID: <13100103@ism70.UUCP> Date: Tue, 21-May-85 13:51:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ism70.13100103 Posted: Tue May 21 13:51:00 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 24-May-85 07:40:57 EDT Lines: 70 Nf-ID: #N:ism70:13100103:000:3368 Nf-From: ism70!steven May 21 13:51:00 1985 BREWSTER'S MILLIONS Starring Richard Pryor and John Candy. Also starring Lonette McKee, Stephen Collins, Jerry Orbach, Pat Hingle and Hume Cronyn. Directed by Walter Hill. Written by Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris. Based on a novel by George Barr McCutcheon. Produced by Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver. Photographed by Ric Waite. Production Designed by John Vallone. Edited by Freeman Davies and Mark Ripps. Music by Ry Cooder. From Universal Pictures (1985). You'd think the guys up in Universal City would have learned. Last summer, their anchor Summer release was the bomb _S_t_r_e_e_t_s_ _o_f _F_i_r_e, directed by none other than action autuer Walter Hill, making an experimental foray into the modern musical genre. So what do they do this year? Give Walter the prime spot in the Universal lineup once again, this time letting him helm, of all things, a comedy. Now don't get me wrong, Hill's great at action. _4_8_ _H_r_s_., the minimalist _T_h_e_ _D_r_i_v_e_r and _T_h_e_ _L_o_n_g_ _R_i_d_e_r_s show a lot of style; when buoyed with a good script, he can really deliver the goods. Maybe the guys up in the Black Tower were doing some thinking when they gave the OK to a script by Herschel Weingrod and Tim Harris, late of _T_r_a_d_i_n_g_ _P_l_a_c_e_s. You'd think. Well... Minor league pitcher Monty Brewster (Richard Pryor) gets a proposition he can't refuse: if he can spend 30 million dollars in 30 days and have no assets left, he'll receive an inheritance from his long-lost Uncle Rupert (Hume Cronyn, wheezing his way into your heart) totaling a cool 300 million dollars. Of course, he can't tell anyone, least of all his good buddy John Candy. Pretty but cold accountant Lonette McKee tries to remain professional amidst the chaos of totaling up the bills of someone who walks into restaurants and orders $400 bottles of wine for everyone in the place. First of all, blame Walter Hill for much of the failure of this film to deliver any real laughs. Pryor's character isn't seen as being so down in the dumps that he really deserves this good fortune. Spending 30 million dollars wildly can be fun; it shows through in some scenes where that idea sparks through intermittently. But Pryor doesn't do anything really clever with the dough (well, one thing). Hill buries lots of laughs with frenetic staging and some loud, raucous background action that doesn't build; it just distracts. The script fails to deliver anything like a memorable comic line for either lead. Plus, the movie loses John Candy for the last half hour of the picture (1/3 of it, since the pic barely runs 100 minutes)! Half of the fun of a project like this comes from watching Pryor and Candy do some schtick together -- unfortunately, Weingrod and Harris saddle Pryor with a stipulation that he can't tell anyone why he must spend all his dough. Another source for interaction goes by the boards. Collins seems miscast in a murky love rectangle (Pryor to McKee to Collins to Tovah Feldshuh as Collin's ex-girfriend). McKee acts way too cold to see why Pryor would want to bother with her. Walter's next project takes him, inappropriately enough, to the sticks in a road comedy called _C_r_o_s_s_r_o_a_d_s, starring Ralph Macchio and Jami Gertz. Hold on tight. Two stars out of four.