Category: Found-Again

At some point, every kid will beg their parents to let them see an R-rated movie. I was an only child, so I say without shame that my nagging skills—in this and every other regard—were highly advanced, and so Mom took me to see my first R film in the theater when I was 13.

A sort-of art film based on a play.

Why did I waste my +20 Tongue of Nagging on such a thing? In other words, Why Found-Again?–or indeed, found in the first place?

For obvious reasons.

And for reasons that are obvious if you’ve seen American Dreamer.

The Premise: I think you have me stumped there. The romantic foibles of some incredibly neurotic people?

Bisexual Bruce (Goldblum) attempts to date homophobic basket case Prudence (Julie Hagerty) while still living with his boyfriend Bob (Christopher Guest). Both Bruce and Prudence are in therapy, with counselors (Tom Conti and Glenda Jackson) in adjacent offices who meet up for quickies during particularly boring sessions. Add in Bob’s excitable mother and a number of minor characters from a French restaurant, and you have a recipe for a nervous breakdown—on the audience’s part, also.

I had an “aha!” moment when I saw that Robert Altman directed Beyond Therapy. While it’s not a comment on the quality of the man’s body of work, this proves Altman’s movies have been Not Doing It For Me since I was a tween (the sole exception: Prêt-à-Porter), and that made me feel a bit better about my initial reaction.

However, it seems to have also shot my usual methods straight to hell. This movie is so scattered, it deserves a scattered writeup. Brace yourself for incoming bullet points!

• I think this must mark the beginning of Goldblum’s European period, so I did learn something!
• The set design in this movie is fantastic, from the paintings in the Tom Conti character’s office to Bruce and Bob’s apartment.
• Christopher Guest with facial hair will always ever be Count Rugen to me, which makes his turn as Bob a bit…odd.
• At the restaurant, Prudence says she writes for People magazine, just like Goldblum’s character in The Big Chill.
• There’s what I am pretty sure is an Airplane! in-joke referencing Ethel Merman.
• While it’s neat to see a movie from this far back with a bisexual protagonist, really, did it have to be like this??
• There is a very cute rabbit hand-puppet.

The Verdict: This didn’t even make my worst-movies list back on my old site, because in spite of its flaws, Beyond Therapy was kind of forgettable in 1987, and I suspect it will be this time too. As I haven’t yet forgotten it, though, my advice is this: treat it as you would treat the Ark of the Covenant. This is a film whose one sound decision, other than set design, was “Let’s put a vest on Conti.” Unless you too are on a quest to see everything Goldblum ever made, avoid avoid avoid.

Might go well with: Leaving the room, watching a better movie in another room, and having a good, stiff drink.

Next time: Blogathon entry!

Why Found-Again? In a way, I already had one found-again conversion moment with Oscar: I walked out on it in the theater back when I was a teenager on the grounds that it was too silly. Now I own it, but don’t watch it very often—maybe once for every 50 times I quote from it, in fact. So what’s the deal?

The Premise: Twofold:

1) Being a mobster who’s trying to go straight is one lasting administrative headache, not least when your idea of “going straight” is going into finance.

2) What audiences in the early 1990s were really missing was a chance to return to the era of screwball comedies.

For people who think the appearance of Sylvester Stallone always guarantees a crapstorm on the horizon, there’s probably no hope of convincing them to like Oscar. But I like Stallone here as “Snaps” Provolone, a successful mob boss trying to go straight as a promise to his dead father (Kirk Douglas).

The only things standing in his way are the cops, the rival gang, the snooty bankers who want his money, his lovesick but devious accountant, a desperate daughter trying to get freedom at any cost, and his exasperated wife: after all that, you’d have big, sad eyes too.

Oscar has one heck of a cast: in addition to Stallone, you have Marisa Tomei, Peter Riegert, Chazz Palminteri, and Tim Curry as a character I love so much I named one of my bettas after him, the elocution teacher Dr. Poole. That’s a lot of people who are fun to watch, even when the plot threatens to wear thin.

Getting back to point 2 above, though, this movie tends to be an acquired taste, a little too silly for people who want a witty comedy and not silly enough for fans of, say, the Naked Gun series. Watching the actual screwball comedies of the early twentieth century has given me a better grounding to appreciate Oscar, but there’s a case to be made that a movie shouldn’t always come with its own research project.

The Verdict: I don’t know why I don’t watch this more often, especially since I steal henchman Connie’s “I’m gettin’ good at this!” line almost weekly. I know I said above that it was an acquired taste, but you should acquire it already.

Might go well with: Tea, smoked salmon, Johnny Dangerously.

I don’t always post full movies, but as with so many of these features, the trailer is seriously lacking (lacking about 55% of the plot, for one thing, and being oddly misleading about the rest).