Man Trouble

1992's "Man Trouble" clearly just doesn't hold much interest or provide much intrigue for a view really somewhat of a letdown from director Bob Rafelson as a complex plot and lack of seriousness weigh the film down. Even though Jack's role seems out of place as clearly the romantic comedy genre has never been his cup of tea. Still Nicholson gives a bold and well done direct performance as Harry Bliss who's a wisecracking womanizer(certainly something Jack can relate to in real life)who runs a guard dog agency of all things! When a woman named Joan(Ellen Barkin)who's a lonely opera singer has her home broken into and robbed she seeks his aid and service. Then Joan moves into the mansion house of her free spirited and eccentric sister Andy(Beverly D' Angelo), yet trouble follows her and Harry as they always seem at the mercy and the target of hit men. The film then takes a wild chase of schemes involving shady characters and hit men that's blended in with the out of control canines and some romance between Harry and Joan. Overall this film is nothing great it moves pretty well yet the plot is so boring and dull with the humor being very offbeat while the romance is impossible for the key characters to obtain. Still it's worth a watch if your a Nicholson fan as Jack always delivers even in bad films, plus Beverly and Ellen both provide a sense of spice and sugar sex appeal to a film that went to the dogs.

With the talent involved here, it should have been a much better film than it is. Music by Georges Delarue, director Bob Rafelson...

Basically it's a lightweight romantic comedy which is attempting to emulate classics comedies about a rich girl meets non-rich guy (think Katherine Hepburn) but it just doesn't have the class or punch of earlier classics in this genre.

The cheap looking opening credits/cartoon are the first indication that something is amiss here. The first half is quite OK but after that, you just don't care enough about these people to stay with the film. There's something incredibly shallow about all those involved and the 'comedy' is just too obvious...problem animal, hispanic housekeeper, mismatched/deceived couples.

I don't think it's until Harry Dean Stanton makes an appearance quite late in the film that you think, aaah, now we've got a movie. But it's all too late.

I love Ellen Barkin, 'deed I do, but even she cannot make the romance with Jack Nicholson believable here. Even back in 1992, Nicholson was TOO OLD to play a romantic lead with a woman seventeen years his junior.

I was getting the creeps watching this in the fall of 2008, and suddenly I realized why. The pairing reminds me of John McCain and his trophy wife, Cindy. McCain: born 1936. Nicholson: born 1937. Cindy and Barkin: both born 1954.

It's obnoxious, the way Hollywood continues to indulge Nicholson (and, presumably, equally elderly male producers and writers) with this assumption that an audience can believe gorgeous young women will fall all over him. Oh, spare me. And start giving actresses Nicholson's own age parts like the plums HE gets, or at least, parts playing his love interest.

I like dogs, I like Ellen Barkin, and that's why I was able to endure the movie at all, though I was embarrassed for her being stuck with such a ludicrous part - and one which, in a movie meant to be funny, failed to take full advantage of her talent for comedy, especially her considerable physical comedy chops.

Also loved Lauren Tom as the Nicholson's wife! Again, the age difference is severe - Tom was born in 1961, making her fully 24 years younger than Nicholson and his character - but Tom's put-on accent (she was born in Chicago) and Nicholson's overall sleaziness suggest that she's a mail-order bride struggling to make the best of a groom who calls her "Iwo Jima." Tom, like Barkin, deserves better writing than this.

One star for Barkin, one star for Tom, and one star for the dog. Zero stars for the rest of it, particularly casting Nicholson and for the overly-complex plot lines.

If it were not for great acting skillings by Ellen Barkin and Beverly D'Angelo, this film would never have been produced, they held up the leading male actor and the dog stole the show from everyone.

This had to be the worst film of 1992, no laughs for me at all.

Well, I saw the movie last night and have to agree with Alex here. I think most people here expected more than just an entertaining movie. The humor is based on silly situations and conversations, and if you can't laugh about something just because it's so darn silly, you indeed won't like the humor in this movie. I can appreciate that humor from time to time, and yesterday was one of those times. I expected nothing much from this movie and it turned out good for me. And Nicholson plays it alright if you ask me (since some are of another opinion here). My opinion: a nice one for down the road, when you're out of options to do something and you just want to lay back and think about nothing...