I was kind of excited about this one. Starring Gene Wilder and directed by Sydney Poitier, plus it had a funny title. I thought this was going to be just the thing to kick off my weekend. However, after viewing, I have to say that I don’t think this film aged well. It didn’t hold my attention, and I found several of the character interactions to be subpar. The story took a while to fully form, as several events played out before Wilder’s character is even introduced. And it’s even longer before Gilda Radner’s character comes into play. I give the story credit for trying to establish an intricate plot, but in my opinion too much time in the beginning was dedicated to characters that aren’t are primary protagonists. To it’s credit, the plot did get slightly more interesting when Wilder’s and Radner’s characters eventually meet, and we start to get some answers about the fine mess they find themselves in. It would have been nice to get that point quicker, as it seems we wasted valuable time investing in characters that were not crucial to the story.
Wilder stars as Michael Jordon, a architect in New York on business. When a beautiful stranger runs into the taxicab he’s using, he volunteers to put a package into the mailbox for her after she hastily addresses the envelope. Unbeknownst to him, the woman is being watched, and that simple kind gesture lands him in in a whole heap of trouble with some very dangerous and mysterious types. When these dangerous and mysterious types catch up to the woman, she ends up dead, and he ends as suspect number one. His only ally is Kate Hellman (Radner), who has secrets of her own. To clear his name, they have to find out what was in the package, who wants it, and why.
This reportedly marks the fifth instance of Wilder playing a wrongly accused man. The others being Silver Streak (1976), The Frisco Kid (1979), Stir Crazy (1980), and See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989). After playing the role of the patsy so many times, I’d say that Wilder had it down pat. However, I did find the setup in this case very clunky, given the fact that he was nowhere near the victim when the gunshot was heard, and he had time to sound and catch her as she breathed her dying breath. Then suddenly the neighboring doors open up to see him standing over the body. It would have worked better if instead of the ensuing struggle, if she was perhaps sneakily killed and the killer pointed the finger at Wilder in order to escape. A sequence like that would have been preferable in my opinion.
So, a key takeaway for the chemistry between Wilder and Radner is that this film is the first of three movies that starred in together, and their chemistry clearly transferred off screen as well, as the pair married after meeting on the set of this film. Also very interesting is the fact that Radner was not originally supposed to star in the film. Rumor has it this was to be another Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor star teaming, but for unspecified reasons, Pryor backed out, and his part was rewritten to be a female, and it went to Gilda Radner. It may have been interesting to see what Wilder and Pryor, whose chemistry is the stuff of comedy legend, could have done with the opportunity. I can’t say whether or not it would have turned out better, because as I said, things for me didn’t really start to get interesting until Wilder and Radner got together on screen. However, I remain curious.
Speaking of reteaming, this film also served as a reteaming for Wilder and Poitier, who made Stir Crazy together. So, there were a lot of good elements and collaborations that made me want to like this film. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t quite get there, even with some humor. I have no doubt that back in that time period some of those jokes were on point and resonated with audiences. However, in this day and time, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
