Rod Daniels directs Joe Pesci, Vincent Gardenia and Madolyn Smith in this comedy where a slum landlord is sentenced to live in one of his buildings until all complaints are resolved.

This doesn’t work… on many levels. Motormouth wit Pesci should fly in such a situation but the part was clearly written for a younger actor. The whole project feels pretty cookie cutter, even for obvious programme filler back in the early Nineties. I reckon it easily made up any losses and a clear profit the moment it hit VHS. But nearly all the dialogue is looped in after the fact. Jokes added in months after the shoot to try and find laughs. Nora Ephron was a script doctor. Yet trying to find the funny in post production just creates an airless cacophony. The one genuinely laugh out loud joke lands just as the credits roll. Otherwise the movie only hits a stride when MC Hammer and C+C Music Factory takeover the speakers. A shame – as the based on a true story concept should have had legs.

3

Perfect Double Bill: Life Stinks (1991)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/