Some box-office bombs turn out to be pleasant surprises

ELLIOTT SMITH

Originally published Friday, January 25, 2002

When a movie gets a bad reputation, it's hard to shake. After all, who wants to spend their hard-earned money in the theaters on a film savaged by critics?

But thanks to video, it's a lot easier to give bombs a second chance. Expectations are lowered and for about half the price, you often find a movie that was D.O.A. at the box office is not hardly as horrible as you imagined.

The Video Guy has always been a fan of the "comedic chase" movie. You know, one of those films with a large cast of B-level stars going on some wacky road trip to win a prize. Think "Cannonball Run," "Midnight Madness" and "Speed Zone."

Well, after a nice little run in the 1970s and '80, the chase movie went the way of the dodo until last year's RAT RACE (PG-13) ***, which hilariously brings back the formula to great success.

Still, not everyone shared my enthusiasm. Stephen Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "nothing that occurs can remotely be construed as humorous."

C'mon, Steve! Not only didn't you laugh at a funny movie, but you also used the word "construed" in your review.

"Naked Gun" director Jerry Zucker goes back to his roots and delivers comedy at its purest form. There's nothing subtle here -- the humor is about as broad as it gets.

A host of everyday people (led by Cuba Gooding Jr., Whoopi Goldberg and Jon Lovitz) are given a chance by a billionaire hotel magnate (John Cleese, with huge teeth) to participate in a race for a $2 million prize. The first one to get to the loot wins it, no questions asked.

Of course, no one just gets to drive to the location, as all sorts of mishaps and maladies strike our contestants, from crashing a bus filled with Lucille Ball lookalikes to a mysterious meeting with the dastardly Squirrel Lady (Kathy Bates).

Hey, were not talking about a comedy of manners here. Basically, if you like to see cars crashing and people falling, this will be right up your alley.

An actor who has had a serious case of ups and downs has been Martin Lawrence. After the surprise success of the atrocious "Big Momma's House," he quickly signed on for a top- dollar role in the horrifically named WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? (PG-13) ** 1/2 and found out the answer to that question quickly.

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly said it was "a worst-case comedy that answers its own title question in every scene." Audiences seemed to agree, as it didn't recoup its $45 million budget.

But while this certainly isn't the best work of either Lawrence or co-star Danny DeVito, the film does a good job of keeping the laughs coming while never losing sight of a talented cast of comedic helpers.

Lawrence stars as Kevin Caffrey, a thief who winds up losing his lucky ring during a heist that he and partner Berger (John Leguizamo) are pulling at the house of bankrupt millionaire Max Fairbanks.

Actually, Kevin loses it because Max takes it right off his finger, setting off a chain of can-you-top-this events as both men vow revenge on each other.

Lawrence actually reigns in his schtick, making his character somewhat likeable. But the real stars of the movie are the supporting cast led by Leguizamo and William Fichtner as a detective who steals every scene he's in.

Maybe I'm being generous because I used my free rental for this one, but I could definitely think of worse movies to kill 90 minutes with. "Summer Catch," anyone?

When you're a teen-age actress and you've played the daughter and you've played the romantic lead, what's left? How about The Teen In Peril?

That's exactly what Leelee Sobieski had in mind when she signed on to do THE GLASS HOUSE (PG-13) ** 1/2, an effective, if not predictable teen thriller that quickly disappeared from theaters.

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times, a reviewer who usually enjoys cheesy movies, wrote, "it's so laughably awful, it begs to have stones thrown at it." Harsh!

If you've ever seen "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" or any of the other "it's not what it seems" movies, then this will seem awfully familiar, but there's a certain level of panache here that makes it OK.

Ruby and her brother Rhett are shocked when their parents are killed in a car accident, forcing them to live with former neighbors the Glasses (Diane Lane and Stellan Skarsgard) in their expensive beach house in Malibu. Sounds great, right?

But Ruby, thanks to her exceptional ability to always be in the right place to hear critical plot points, learns that the Glasses' motives are not altogether altruistic, perhaps spurred by the $4 million left to the children by their parents.

The Glasses are so obviously eeeevil that it seems ludicrous they would ever get the kids in the first place, but it boils down to only Ruby being able to stop their reign of terror (insert sarcasm here).

Like the other films, if you go into this with lowered expectations, you won't be disappointed.

Elliott Smith is a sportswriter for The Olympian by night and The Video Guy even later at night. Readers may send comments or suggestions to esmith@olympia.gannett.com.

The Video Guy needs your help!

The Video Guy wants you to help determine what movies I watch. Send in your requests, and some of the most popular or weird responses will be featured in an upcoming column. Want me to watch your favorite movie? Find out about a film you've been curious about? Suffer through the worst movie you've ever seen? Send your movies to esmith@olympia. gannett.com with the subject Video Requests.

Star guide

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Good * * *

Fair * *

Poor *

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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