I was really enjoying this movie. It was moving along at a good pace; I thought Warren Beatty was giving a good performance - and then the last twenty minutes threw in a plot twist that was totally unexpected (which would have been fine, except that it made no sense.) That, along with some illogical parts to the storyline, really brought this movie down a notch or two in my estimation.
Beatty played Joe Pendleton, a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams who finally gets a chance to quarterback his team in the Super Bowl, except that heaven makes a mistake. "The Escort" (Buck Henry) wants to save Pendleton the pain of dying in a road accident and so plucks him out of his body before the accident happens. Unfortunately, Pendleton wasn't supposed to die in the accident but by the time the mistake is figured out his body is cremated, so he has to return to earth in the body of the fabulously wealthy Mr. Farnsworth.
First problem. Everybody has a time to die. OK. It's bad that "The Escort" brought Pendleton to heaven before he was supposed to die. But isn't it equally bad that Pendleton gets to keep living through the lives of two people whose time was supposedly up? Seems to me that would throw everything off balance too. What if Pendleton as Farnsworth or the quarterback whose body he took over (and I have to confess that name escapes me) killed someone after their time was supposedly up? Seems to me that would create real problems. But the real problem for me was the ending.
SPOILER AHEAD
Why all of a sudden is Pendleton told that he won't be allowed to remember anything and will simply live as the quarterback whose body he took over? I thought the point was that Pendleton wasn't supposed to have died. But, in effect, heaven's Mr. Jordan (James Mason) kills him anyway by wiping away his memory when everything in the movie to that point suggested that he could keep living as Pendleton in someone else's body. I don't mind a plot twist, but that just made no sense to me.
Anyway, the movie is entertaining in spite of those plot problems. I enjoyed Beatty's performance as Pendleton (knowing nothing about business) attending Farnsworth's company's Board meeting and completely changing everything the company had been about by convincing the directors to look at things "like a football game." That was quite humourous. Jack Warden was quite good as Rams' trainer Max Corkle, who tries to get Farnsworth's body into shape for the Super Bowl, and Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon and Julie Christie also offered good performances here.
6/10
Beatty played Joe Pendleton, a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams who finally gets a chance to quarterback his team in the Super Bowl, except that heaven makes a mistake. "The Escort" (Buck Henry) wants to save Pendleton the pain of dying in a road accident and so plucks him out of his body before the accident happens. Unfortunately, Pendleton wasn't supposed to die in the accident but by the time the mistake is figured out his body is cremated, so he has to return to earth in the body of the fabulously wealthy Mr. Farnsworth.
First problem. Everybody has a time to die. OK. It's bad that "The Escort" brought Pendleton to heaven before he was supposed to die. But isn't it equally bad that Pendleton gets to keep living through the lives of two people whose time was supposedly up? Seems to me that would throw everything off balance too. What if Pendleton as Farnsworth or the quarterback whose body he took over (and I have to confess that name escapes me) killed someone after their time was supposedly up? Seems to me that would create real problems. But the real problem for me was the ending.
SPOILER AHEAD
Why all of a sudden is Pendleton told that he won't be allowed to remember anything and will simply live as the quarterback whose body he took over? I thought the point was that Pendleton wasn't supposed to have died. But, in effect, heaven's Mr. Jordan (James Mason) kills him anyway by wiping away his memory when everything in the movie to that point suggested that he could keep living as Pendleton in someone else's body. I don't mind a plot twist, but that just made no sense to me.
Anyway, the movie is entertaining in spite of those plot problems. I enjoyed Beatty's performance as Pendleton (knowing nothing about business) attending Farnsworth's company's Board meeting and completely changing everything the company had been about by convincing the directors to look at things "like a football game." That was quite humourous. Jack Warden was quite good as Rams' trainer Max Corkle, who tries to get Farnsworth's body into shape for the Super Bowl, and Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon and Julie Christie also offered good performances here.
6/10