moonspinner55

Far from terrible. Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short play silent screen stars in 1916, heroes in low-budget westerns who defeat bandits and are adored by señoritas. After asking for a raise and getting dropped by their studio, the trio gets a well-timed telegram asking them to come to an actual Mexican village and "put on a show", unaware that the residents really need help in thwarting "the infamous El Guapo". Martin, who also executive produced the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Lorne Michaels and Randy Newman, is very much in the spirit of this nonsense, while Chase follows his lead and Short is a rather green third wheel. It's a great-looking comedy with hit-and-miss gags, some of which really misfire due to director John Landis's wobbly timing. Newman also wrote the satirical songs, which are amusing and give the picture a nostalgic kick. ** from ****

Chevy Chase stars as a sports writer in New York City who moves himself and wife Madolyn Smith to Vermont to concentrate on writing a novel. This relentlessly obvious comedy--directed by a waning George Roy Hill and adapted by Jeffrey Boam from Jay Cronley's book--includes the old mystery food dish joke (which admittedly still gets a laugh upon its reveal). "Funny Farm" is hardly memorable, but at least the picture looks good thanks to rich Miroslav Ondrícek cinematography. For his part, Chevy Chase has some funny scenes but this character offers the actor almost nothing fresh to do. ** from ****

Dudley Moore stars as a symphony conductor who is led to believe his actress-wife (Nastassja Kinski) is cheating on him with a classical violinist (Armand Assante). Remake of the 1948 Preston Sturges comedy simplifies its plot (which is fine) and has several big laughs early on. Unfortunately, the enterprise suffers from a dull, flat appearance and fights a curious lethargy in its second and third acts. Nevertheless, one of Moore's better films from the decade, though it's one that could certainly use some added pizazz. Howard Zieff directs the same way cinematographer David M. Walsh sets up shots--with nary a flicker of imagination. ** from ****