Sometimes it falls upon some of you brave souls to witness... that which should not be spoken of. But we must to make sure that others, far and wide, do not suffer or go hungry from our same mistake. Wiking made that type of sacrifice, I did when I watched that shithole of the year award, NOTLD 30th Anniversary DVD.... Actually... he doesn't think it was that bad.... But... well read on...
Wiking here
Last night I saw a screening of Foolproof at Universal staring Norm MacDonald, Dave Chappelle, and Danny DeVito. Norm MacDonald plays a butler to a rich, stingy old woman. Unhappy with the way he is being treated (she won't even buy him a new butler uniform), Norm and his friend (Dave) decide to kidnap the woman's dog for ransom. Through a comical turn of events, the police believe that Norm was the one kidnapped, and Norm and Dave decide to play it out.
The movie was weak. Sure, there were some funny moments, but it felt like a half-hour TV show, only stretched to 90 minutes and with nothing funny to fill the extra time. The EXTREMELY LOUD soundtrack seemed to be used to hide that fact. The comedy itself was on a Three's Company level. For example, when a character talks to the police, he starts to say something incriminating, then cringes as he realizes that, and then goes "umm... ummm..." and throws out some wacky explanation. This happened a lot. Also, in one instance, Norm gets the briefcase that should contain the 5 milllion dollars ransom. But does he check it? No, he and Dave run to the airport to buy tickets out of the country, and only then open the briefcase to find trash and a cabbage instead of money. Ha ha! The movie also features some unbelievable sequences, like a girl in a flower shop checking the serial # on a hundred dollar bill to discover it's one of the bills used for the ransom. The ending is also unbelievable in the way it attempts to wrap up everything nicely.
Some of the characters felt undeveloped, like Norm's girlfriend. When the movie starts, she is angry with him. Why? We don't know. We also don't know why Norm keeps working for this woman that pays him so little and treats him so badly. We also don't know why this woman, who can afford to buy a three thousand dollar hat for herself, is so stingy where Norm is concerned. Or even why she only has one servant for her huge mansion.
Danny DeVito's character was the only one I enjoyed. He plays a looney coroner who likes to collect items he finds in people stomachs, among other things. Unfortunately, the script did not allow Dave Chappelle and Norm MacDonald to reach their comedic potential. If you want funnier stuff from either one, see Half Baked or the Norm Show.
If I had paid full admission price to see this movie, I would have felt ripped off. The movie might be worth seeing as a rental. Or wait for it to show up on the Comedy Channel; I don't believe you will have to wait too long for that.
