Perhaps over the years, this film has grown on me a bit, or maybe it's 25+ years in the corporate world which helps me relate to Gene Hackman's frustration. He hadn't had a really big film since "The French Connection" so this was originally planned as a low budget comedy, the type that would come and go so quickly and ultimately end up with one dusty video on the shelf at your local movie rental store. But in came the Barbra known as Streisand and it moved up to A status. Perhaps the script should have been dusted off because while it's not horrible, it's one that could have been a lot better considering the talent involved.
There should have been a better putting with the unforgettable visual of a chair flying out of a skyscraper window. what part itself isn't bad, but we really don't get an explanation as to why Gene Hackman has gone ballistic, or as I saw it, not one that would make you really rude for him outside of basic work frustration that we all have. The scene reminded me of the better opening of "The Hudsucker Proxy" where Charles Durning danced down the giant table and jumped out the window.
The heads of the company don't want to fire him so they move him to be the graveyard manager of a drugstore, the bottom of the barrel as far as a career professional is concerned. When a distant relative passes away, Hackman becomes entranced by far off inlaw Streisand whom he finds out is having an affair (unseen) with his son Dennis Quaid. Wife Diane Ladd isn't pleased by it either, and when Hackman and Streisand are revealed to be canoodling, it's off to divorce court which follows up with Hackman quitting his job without notice, losing his pension in the process.
There are some memorable moments in this rather dark comedy, particularly those in the drug store, with Hackman trying to stop a prankster with shoplifter and later on encounter with a very tough woman robber. Streisand is playing the type of zany character she had played in those early seventies comedies, and at one point, sings off key a country song, sounding like a Loretta Lynn wannabee, a little nod to the recent success of "Coal Miner's Daughter".
Mixed moments of humor don't make a great film, and the film is often unpleasant in its efforts to be quirky. Kevin Dobson plays a very uncharming relative as Streisand's husband, but Ladd is very good as Hackman's wife. There's also little chemistry between the two stars, and while Streisand is doing her best, she isn't always comfortable being basically supporting when usually the focus.
This is the type of film that Streisand fans will watch once, then switch back to "What's Up Doc?" Hackman suffers from the fact that his character isn't particularly well developed. It's a curious comic flop coming from the same year as "Arthur" in which fellow musical diva Liza Minnelli succeeded far more as support to Dudley Moore and had far more chemistry as well as a better script.
There should have been a better putting with the unforgettable visual of a chair flying out of a skyscraper window. what part itself isn't bad, but we really don't get an explanation as to why Gene Hackman has gone ballistic, or as I saw it, not one that would make you really rude for him outside of basic work frustration that we all have. The scene reminded me of the better opening of "The Hudsucker Proxy" where Charles Durning danced down the giant table and jumped out the window.
The heads of the company don't want to fire him so they move him to be the graveyard manager of a drugstore, the bottom of the barrel as far as a career professional is concerned. When a distant relative passes away, Hackman becomes entranced by far off inlaw Streisand whom he finds out is having an affair (unseen) with his son Dennis Quaid. Wife Diane Ladd isn't pleased by it either, and when Hackman and Streisand are revealed to be canoodling, it's off to divorce court which follows up with Hackman quitting his job without notice, losing his pension in the process.
There are some memorable moments in this rather dark comedy, particularly those in the drug store, with Hackman trying to stop a prankster with shoplifter and later on encounter with a very tough woman robber. Streisand is playing the type of zany character she had played in those early seventies comedies, and at one point, sings off key a country song, sounding like a Loretta Lynn wannabee, a little nod to the recent success of "Coal Miner's Daughter".
Mixed moments of humor don't make a great film, and the film is often unpleasant in its efforts to be quirky. Kevin Dobson plays a very uncharming relative as Streisand's husband, but Ladd is very good as Hackman's wife. There's also little chemistry between the two stars, and while Streisand is doing her best, she isn't always comfortable being basically supporting when usually the focus.
This is the type of film that Streisand fans will watch once, then switch back to "What's Up Doc?" Hackman suffers from the fact that his character isn't particularly well developed. It's a curious comic flop coming from the same year as "Arthur" in which fellow musical diva Liza Minnelli succeeded far more as support to Dudley Moore and had far more chemistry as well as a better script.