Director: Richard Benjamin
Cast: Peter O’Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Joseph Bologna, Jessica Harper
Have I Seen it Before: Yes, ages ago. I don’t know why it hasn’t been an absolute staple of my life. I had intentions to run it in the background while I got some work done, and now I’m just sitting here unable to take my eyes away from it all.
Did I Like It: I think that last paragraph tells you quite a bit. I’ve been having a reaction to a number of comedy films lately where the story registers not at all with me. Thus, I’m left only with a feeling for the characters and setting, and, you know, actual laughs. More than a few comedies still elicit a positive reaction from me, even if is increasingly feeling like something is missing.
I’m more than a little pleased to report that this film fires splendidly on all three fronts. I would love to be among the writing staffs of one of the old live comedy shows, so there’s not a moment during the hour and a half run time where I feel bored. The laughs are plentiful, with plenty of one-liners abounding and two physical comedians in O’Toole and Linn-Baker* working their best magic.
And this is the best part: the plot actually works and never lets up on the tension until the end. Its easy to see where this film provided the inspirational backbone of what eventually became 30 Rock. The best that show had to offer was perfectly contained comic tension machines, and that show owes this movie a great debt. My head canon? They take place in the same universe.
*Say what you will about Perfect Strangers—Linn-Baker’s main claim to fame—but both he and Bronson Pinchot knew what they were doing when slapstick was the order of the day.