Susan's Plan

Not John Landis's proudest moment. I'm not sure what his last movie was before directing (and writing!) this forgettable dark comedy, but it seems as if he took a long break from the business. You would think he'd make a big revival, after his many successes with such hit comedies as "Animal House," "Trading Places" and "Coming to America." Wrong.

I'm not going to be entirely negative. I was laughing a lot during the first and second acts. The film never quite hits the comic bull's eye, but it starts out on a positive note with many funny and entertaining moments. The characters are never well-developed, and it's obvious that Landis was leaning towards a dark farce, but I let that slide at first. Towards the end, the one-joke premise is stretched to the point where we're watching a series of violent dream sequences, which get quite repetitive. The film loses all focus, and the audience is given the run-around.

The cast is promising. Rob Schneider has a few funny sequences. Dan Aykroyd looks cool as a snide, tough-guy biker dude. The women are sexy, led by Natassja Kinski. However, I will give a warning. I'm a man and I'm not offended by female nudity; in fact, I enjoy it. But for all women who are offended by the "degrading of females" in countless motion pictures will probably croak on this one. Those who saw Landis's landmark comedy "Animal House" know his tendency to insert gratuitous nudity to catch the attention of his male viewers, but in that film it better fit the tone. In this case, I think he was pushing it. I don't know if it was exactly necessary to show Thomas Haden-Church doing Lara Flynn Boyle doggystyle. As I said, I'm not offended, but prudish women probably will be.

The soundtrack is awfully one-note. It's as if Landis was running way, way underbudget and could only fit one theme song into the soundtrack. Though I was laughing most of the way, I couldn't help but feel this film was way under par--especially for a man of Landis's talent. The last thirty minutes is all over the map, and Landis seemed to have written those final scenes in his sleep.

Altogether not bad, but not too good either.

My score: 5 (out of 10)

We picked up the DVD and thought, "Hey, with a cast like this and with John Landis directing, it's got to be worth at least a look. I mean, Landis did 'Blues Brothers', didn't he?" I also need to point out that we are big Dan Ackroyd fans and will watch, at least once, anything the man puts on film. Man, were we disappointed.

Rather than beat a dead horse, we'll just throw a few adjectives and phrases your direction: disjointed, bad editing, failing jokes (the fart jokes were the funniest, if this gives you an idea), no closure, redundant, unnecessary and distracting segues, gratuitous sex scenes (although Lara Flynn Boyles is very appealing, just not enough screen time to make it interesting!).

We watched this movie and braved the hour and a half hoping it would get better and that the cacophony of subplots would somehow congeal into a cohesive crescendo. Not happening. Just got worse and left us feeling like we wasted the popcorn.

Do not rent this movie. If you need a Dan Ackroyd fix, just rent "Grosse Pointe Blank" or even "Ghostbusters." And if you need a Rob Schneider fix, I understand 'Deuce Bigalow' was 'Citizen Kane' compared to this fine piece of...art.

I can't really say that this was a good movie, as much as I'd like to say so, but some of the performances in the film are pretty funny. I think Michael Biehn is terrific and he is easily the best character in the film. I also think Rob Schneider and Billy Zane give good supporting performances. Some of the gags are hilarious, but this Landis film can't compare to most of the stuff he's done in the past.

I rented this movie becuase Michael Biehn was in it, and found it surprisingly good. Biehn, in his first comedic role, really shines. He brings an interesting airheadedness to the role which is a fun change to his usual mega-serious roles in other films. However, the film is also filled with humorous portayls by Lara Flynn Bolye, Nastassja Kinski and Billy Zane. Rob Schneider, Thomas Haden Church and Adrian Paul also give semi-funny performences, and Dan Akroyd plays a barely believable, but funny role as "Bob". The plot is very cliched and rather normal, but the film is very funny and the charecters interesting to watch. It was a very pleasent surprise, this film. Highly reccomended to fans of Biehn, Kinski, Boyle or just fans of good comedies.

I liked this movie only because Nastassja Kinski starred in it, and it was kind of a different role for her. She usually plays victim types, but in this she's not so nice. I wish the movie had been better scripted and edited. Too many things don't make sense. Why should we think Adrian Paul is worth killing? He's supposed to be not worth much, but we never know why. The ending is practically non-existent. It just runs out of steam and dies. Having said that, there were a few funny moments. Enough to rent a video for? Probably not, unless like me, you like one of the leads.