El detective invisible

Inane 3-D comedy with the always lifeless Guttenberg starring as a bureaucrat caught up in some big international plot to steal invisibility potions. The laughs are few and the story is uneven. Sad to see the always entertaining Tambor in such drivel.

Sam Cooper, a low-level State Department dweeb, comes into possession of a small silver sphere. Sam learns that the sphere contains tiny vials of a blue liquid, a serum that, upon drinking it, renders that person temporarily invisible. As a result Sam is hunted by three dumb thugs, a Soviet diplomat, and his best friend who works for Naval Intelligence. All of them want the sphere. Unfortunately, for Sam he can't simply turn over the vials or destroy them. By using the serum his body now carries "residues" that can be used to duplicate the formula. Making him valuable to all parties dead or alive.

For a movie that's supposed to be a comedy, there are very few laughs. Often the film is just outright silly. There is a lot of running around, yelling, and chasing along with a few sex gags and nude scenes. This film might have worked better if they had played it as a straightforward thriller and avoided the gimmicky 3-D photography.

The 3-D featured in "The Man Who Wasn't There" stands for DUMB, DUMB, DUMB! This inept comedy features lousy 3-D effects that makes the 3-D effects in "Jaws 3", "Amityville 3", and "Friday the 13th Part 3" look better by comparison. Not to mention the movie is asinine to the extreme. This was one of many 1983 movies to feature the pop-off-the-screen effects. Steve Guttenberg and Jeffrey Tambor got trapped in this mess, but at least it didn't kill their careers. Tambor would go on to star on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show" and Ron Howard's box office smash "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", while Guttenberg followed this flop with "Police Academy" and "Cocoon". What them in those projects instead of them here in "The Man Who Wasn't There". If you do, you'll regret it.

1/2* (out of four)

Let me confess. I found this video used and bought it because Guttenberg looked so sexy in his underwear on the jacket. But inside was another story. Besides the fact that the movie was basically a parody of "invisible-man" genre special effects (highly visible strings and other such paraphernalia), the script wasted no chance -- in fact it went out of its way -- in insulting all non-WASP races and real-or-imagined homosexuals. Every insult aimed at a person in the script was either homophobic or racist or both. It starts to grate on your nerves, along with the shaky sound, candid- camera style photography and melodramatic story. However, the end is somewhat of a surprise. But by the time you get there, you hardly care less. Too bad, it could been a reasonably good movie.

"The funniest movie you never saw!" is what the poster exclaims and they were right. Because true comedy won't be found here. I actually saw this back when it was released in theaters in the early 80's. The movie is a simple, cheap jack tale of invisibility and international intrigue that's loaded with political incorrectness and juvenile gags. There are a handful of shots that are really cool in 3-D. However there some really bad 3-D effects, most due to poor understanding or handling of the equipment and 3-D techniques. And the film is in the top 5 running for world's worst rear screen projection usage in a movie. What it could have been with better cast and more money is an interesting thought. This also has to have the weirdest and dumbest team of killers ever seen in a movie. The 3-D gets a 2 and the movie gets a 3.