No me chilles, que no te veo

See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)

*** (out of 4)

Richard Pryor plays Wally, a blind man. Gene Wilder plays Dave, a deaf man. The two meet and quickly become friends as it seems they complete one another but they are accused of a murder and must take off and try to solve the mystery of who the real killers are.

SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL was the third of four films between Pryor and Wilder and I must say that it very well might be their best. If you go back and read some of the original reviews for the movie, it somewhat took a beating by many who said blind and deaf people shouldn't be made fun of. I agree with this but at the same time both actors turn in wonderful performances and I would argue that they say a lot about being handicapped and show both the blind and the deaf in a positive manor.

Of course, this is a comedy and it does feature Pryor and Wilder so one should expect jokes and there are a ton of them here and I'd say that the majority of them work. The comic genius of both actors is on full display here just by the way they bounce off one another whether it be a physical joke or just a matter of timing. Just take a look at the opening sequence where the two bump into one another and a fight almost breaks out even though they are unaware of the other one. The timing between the actors are just flawless here.

I'd also argue that both of them are very believable in their parts. This is especially true for Pryor who gives one of the best examples of a blind person that I've seen. Wilder also deserves a lot of credit for how he played the deaf man. Joan Severance, Alan North and Kevin Spacey are also good in their supporting parts. The director keeps the film moving at a very nice pace and as I said, the majority of the jokes work extremely well.

There's no question that the success of SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL falls back on Pryor and Wilder. Both turns in fabulous performances and make this film what it is.

This pairing of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, while not "Silver Streak" and not the first half of "Stir Crazy", is still an amusing comedy with some absolutely hilarious moments. I mean, let's face it...the second half of Stir Crazy is as boring as it gets. This film lags in spots, but the chemistry of Pryor and Wilder does satisfy. Stay away from "Another You" (as I did). I figured that this film was as good as we were going to get from Pryor and Wilder. Was I right? I dunno. I stayed away from "Another You".

I love this movie and I love Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. On the face of it they're both so utterly unfunny that they come full circle on the crapometer right back round to funny. You have to hand it to them. These guys have made several films together, all of which are arguably quite rubbish, yet I always wizz myself laughing whenever I watch any of them. By the way, for all you Wilder/Pryor slapstick-duo film fan freaks out there, I stole that amazingly funny quote in my summary from the back of the Stir Crazy box. So sue me if I want to use the best line I've ever read on the back of a video box ever, anywhere in the whole wide world. You know, you should always judge a film by it's cover, and even more so by the description on the back. How could you not fall over, doubled-up in uncontrollable fits of laughter, face contorting, body spasming in the video store when you see Pryor/Wilder on the front cover of a video, one pretending he can't see, the other pretending he can't hear. Then you read the back cover and you nearly die laughing before you reach the counter due to the over-use of words such as, crazy, zany, nuts, wacko, crackers, mad-cap, caper, loony, escapades, hilarious, romp etc. etc. I mean, if you've ever seen this film, you'll know what a total load of lies that is, but they're real funny lies. All this and you have not even left the video store. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but any film that has normal, well adjusted members of the film watching community thrashing about on the floor of a video store, really should have cleaned up at the oscars. Ok, so I exaggerate. Or do I. Come on then. Lets hear some Pryor/ Wilder collaboration appreciation.

Just saw this movie again recently, and it still gets me laughing like crazy. This was the first Pryor/Wilder movie I ever saw, when it first came out on video, and it eventually got me to the video store several more times to see their other movies. Although all of them got me laughing (especially Silver Streak), this one was by far the funniest. It's definitely an underrated movie. I only wish Pryor and Wilder had done more together.

I remember first seeing this movie when I was about five years old, and I found it hilarious. I caught the movie a couple more times on network TV, but this is the first time I watched it again in its unedited form.

Needless to say, Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder are both wonderful talents with an irreplacable chemistry, and that chemistry is utilized very well throughout. Of course, the brilliantly original premise helps as well. A blind guy and a deaf guy who pair up to solve a murder? Classic! That premise is used wonderfully. There's a great line where they're interrogated and angry officer screams out, "Between the two of you, you saw and heard everything!"

There's a lot of great fish-out-of-water humor involving Pryor's blindness and Wilder's deafness. One of the most hilarious gags, along with the car chase, is when Pryor helps another blind man to walk across the street, and they end up in the back of a truck. Now that's a literal example of the blind leading the blind. Each gag is delivered and timed very well, thanks for the great actors and veteran director Arthur Hiller, who has directed the two leads before in "Silver Streak."

This isn't a perfect comedy. A few gags fall flat, but the key word is "few." Some reviewers and audiences have regarded this as the low point in Wilder's and Pryor's careers. I think of "Another You" as the low point, which is a horribly forgettable comedy that unfortunately was the last film they did together.

A good deal of the gags are far-fetched, but this is a slapstick farce and you have to expect that. That's why I always say that this is a very tricky sub-genre and if not done correctly, the audience will totally stop suspending disbelief and simply scoff at its foolishness.

Fans of Pryor and Wilder should not be disappointed. Also, if you want to see an early (comic) performance by Kevin Spacey, it's also worth checking out. Speaking of worth checking out, Joan Severance provides great eye candy, and she has a couple of nude scenes to boot. I was born in 1982, so this was the first movie where I saw the two comics together on screen, so "See No Evil" is more unique to me than it probably is to others. But come on! With scenes like a high-speed car chase involving a blind man and a deaf man trying to escape, how can this not be regarded as a "unique" comedy?

My score: 7 (out of 10)