Danny DeVito directs himself, Billy Crystal and Anne Ramsey in this pitch black comedy where a struggling author is forced into a murder scheme by one of his creative writing students.

A childhood favourite. So dark and so sprightly. This really is just a delivery system for Crystal and DeVito to do what they do both best in the same room. You wish they made a dozen or so together. Anne Ramsey is fantastic as the horrific momma. Pacing wise it is a little wobbly. You know in your heart of hearts they ain’t gonna kill momma even if she deserves it. So it spins its wheels until a forced big finale. The journey is worth it. Stick TMFTT under the file: They Don’t Make Em Like This Anymore. Enjoy DeVito the director starting to fully embrace his love of close-ups and match cuts and skewed angles.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Strangers On a Train (1951)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Troy Duffy directs Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus in this indie crime flick where two Irish Catholic brothers take down the organised criminals of Boston.

Written and directed by a barman / bouncer who got lucky and then burned every bridge to Hollywood on the way. To wit here is just one of many little facepalm tidbits from IMDB “Composer, writer, and director Troy Duffy dismissed several casting choices for this movie. He refused to meet with Brad Pitt because he’d already played an Irishman in The Devil’s Own (1997) (where Duffy found his Irish accent unconvincing) and rejected Keanu Reeves and Ethan Hawke, calling the former “a fucking punk” and the latter “a talentless fool”. Oh deary deary me! The movie is a sloppy Tarantino clone of a clone of clone with little flair and no consistency. There’s one good action scene involving a toilet. Willem Dafoe camps it up as the FBI agent on the case and liking what he sees. The whole rigamarole feels shattered and then put back together. Like an 8 year old playing guns in their bedroom alone… and then this happened… and then this happened. Those titular protagonists The Boondock Saints get lost in the mix, the bad taste dialogue comes across as sad posing. This should be my jam but it is just a sloppy example of deluded people (indie studios / wannabe auteurs) chasing the one true master.

4

Perfect Double Bill: 2 Days In the Valley (1996)

Craig Gillespie directs Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and America Ferrera in this true story comedy drama of a group of amateur investors how disrupt Wall Street’s shorting of Game Stop stock to potential massive profits.

You can tell where a character is on the ethical spectrum by when and how and if they wear their mask to protect others from spreading Covid. Stacked cast of modern talents and good clean storytelling. I didn’t follow this ridiculously recent news story very closely as it happened but anything the movie illuminates comes as little surprise. You can tell everyone is aiming towards a quirkier The Social Network but the end result is a less obnoxious The Big Short. That still feels like a win. I like this flavour of movie but I’m also getting a little familiar with the rhythms of an average one.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Blackberry (2023)

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Mel Brooks directs Ron Moody, Frank Langella and Dom DeLuise in this period farce where a hiding aristocrat’s inheritance is hidden in one of twelve dining chairs that are being shipped around Soviet Russia.

Essentially The Good, The Bad And The Ugly in post revolutionary USSR. Only with slapstick instead of six shooters. The location shoot is handsome but only the all to brief appearance of Mel himself really has any hilarity to it. Not a patch on his best spoofs but at least it has a plot, rounded characters and a satirical strictness. The Twelve Chairs actually is a passable matinee filler. Surprised it still isn’t in the telly broadcast rotation. Coasts on charm and potential after a strong set up.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Producers (1969)

Dennis Dugan directs Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald and Carl Weathers in this sports comedy where an inept hockey player turns golfer to save his Grandma’s house.

Yes, the auteur dramas. And yeah, of course, the romcoms. But Happy Gilmore is THE indisputable finest of Sandler’s angry / dumb / sporty ones. McDonald’s Shooter is an all-timer comedy villain. So schmucky. Ben Stiller probably does his best work in an evil smaller role. This follows the underdog sports comedy formula to a tee, relishing it rather than subverting it. Most importantly it makes me laugh a ton. “I am good. You know what, you’re a lousy kindergarten teacher. I’ve seen those finger-paintings you bring home and they suck.”

9

Perfect Double Bill: Big Daddy (1999)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Edward Berger directs Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Sergio Castellitto in this mystery thriller where an unambitious cardinal must navigate the back stabbings and conspiracies as he organises the election of the next pope.

The Vatican goes 10 Little Indians… only instead of murders reputations are obliterated and we aren’t looking for a killer but the next Pope. There is something very tickling about a mere airport novel given the full prestige treatment… but then again what was The Godfather but exactly that. Berger conjures up some striking imagery – every frame is a painting. He amps the reds while somehow making everything else desaturated. When it comes to lending rituals ominous significance he has the eye. The actual drama is a little stilted. There is as much camp as there is insight, Fiennes feels swaddled in a role that demands he is tightly coiled throughout. You kinda want that one scene where he lets rip yet it never arrives. That perhaps sums up Conclave to the penny. It always teeters on the edge of being something a bit more exciting. The final act goes off the rails with false spectacle and hollow twists to get us to that shock new pope. I’m not going to lie, I hoped for a modern classic here. It could still easily win Best Picture in the spring and in all honesty I can see me banging it on as an indulgence every other Easter weekend. Sergio Castellitto power playing a cad of cardinal has vaped his way into icon status after just one viewing. Puff that vape, you handsome old fascist.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Doubt (2008)

Robert Bierman directs Nicolas Cage, María Conchita Alonso and Jennifer Beals in this horror comedy where a yuppie is convinced he is turning into a vampire and acts accordingly.

Hard not to be completely enthralled by Cage when he goes up to 11 for every scene. Absolutely untethered from reality this is both bad tasting ham and screen acting as modern art. The movie itself is a third NYC location shoot freak show (and I love that) but the bulk is spread over three well rationed sets. This works as the best way to make a low budget flick in my opinion. Dangerously close in tone and themes to American Psycho, more so Mary Harron’s movie adaptation than the actual book. It is funny, disturbing, sad and tense. Yet very much Cage’s show the whole way through. Side note: Jennifer Beals is also very good as the vampire succubus.

8

Perfect Double Bill: American Psycho (2000)

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Michael Gornick directs Lois Chiles, Tom Savini and George Kennedy in this horror anthology based on Stephen King short stories featuring a hit and run that won’t let go and a flesh eating blob in a lake.

Less starry and unloved, the second and third stories in this cheap sequel are better than anything in the original.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Creepshow (1982)