Bouscule pas l'amour!

Fans of the obscure 80s comedy, 'Odd Jobs' (in which Scott McGinnis, who plays Skip here, also co-stars) might want to try out this rather silly romantic comedy, although it lacks much of the stupid humor of the former (but still contains some wry humor). This is the story of a well-meaning, somewhat naive guy named Eddie (David Packer) from Akron, Ohio who goes to live with his suave cousin, Skip (McGinnis) in Los Angeles where he finds out that success comes from pretending to be successful. It's advice that Eddie is at least willing to try, having no luck in his advertising pursuits (he's a handbill solicitor on the beach for a rental shack) and romance. Most of the movie focuses on Eddie's romantic pursuits as he enlists in a video dating service and, with one false persona after the next, he meets girls with all sorts of bizarre hangups that seem to get him no where. So Eddie thinks that maybe Los Angeles has him beat. (Think of it as like the West Coast version of Michael J. Fox's character in "Secret to my Success").

Most of the humor comes from the odd situations Eddie finds himself in with all of the strange people he meets in L.A. Look for Diz McNally in a bit part as a cab driver. For those who grew up in the 80s, you may remember her from the old Nickelodeon show, 'Out of Control,' which starred David Coulier. And, aside from my usual favorite, Scott Miginnis in his trademark role of the wealthy stud, I thought David Leisure as Eddie's boss, Lu Leonard as the dating service manager, and Frank Bonner and Luanna Anders who play Eddie's parents, were terrific and hilarious supporting characters. The lead, David Packer, has always done well with this sort of naive, well-meaning character. Those who enjoyed The Running Kind might want to give this one a try (and vice versa).

Blast from the past with this cast: David Leisure, Frank Bonner (wkrp), Charles Grodin (mister low key), sally kellerman (back to school), Kristy McNichol. In the film, Eddie (Packer) heads to LA to hang with his cousin Skip (McGinnis). The midwest guy has a hard time fitting in, and the job Skip got for him is handing out flyers on the beach! He gives video dating a try, but each date is wackier than the one before. It's a bubble gum flick, with lots of saxophone, and big hair. The actors all show weird smiles after each sentence. There's barely a plot, where mom and dad are trying to convince Eddie to come back home. Of course, there's full frontal female nudity. That's about the only redeeming feature of this one. Moves so slowly. Written and directed by Richard Martini. This was his first direction of a full length film. Seems to have done a bunch of docs recently.

David Packer (whom you may remember from the NBC-tv miniseries' "V" (1983) and "V: The Final Battle" (1984)) is so wonderful in this film. His acting is so natural and very easy to watch. His voice is nice and soft to listen to. His personality is kind and gentle. No attitude here. David Packer makes this film worth watching. The cameo appearance by Kristy McNichol is fun to watch. Wish there were more scenes of her. Yes, that is Sally Kellerman singing nicely during the end credits.

It's hard to believe how terrible movies like this can get made, let alone with a cast this talented and fun. I suppose they were sold on the premise, which is not a bad one: A guy from Ohio moves to California to try to get into advertising and find love, only to end up with an "advertising" job that consists of handing out flyers at the beach and on a string of hilariously bad dates gotten through a video dating service where he thinks he needs to pretend to be someone he's not in order to attract a girl.

Sounds okay, right? Well, none of the jokes hit, almost all the bits that are supposed to be funny are just stupid, and there is very little romance in this until the end, all tied up in a bundle of ridiculous cliches that will make you groan out loud.

The thing is, this has an actually half decent lead and several well known and amazing costars in it! I was surprisingly impressed with David Packer's ability to actually make me care about his idiot character. I've always liked Bridget Fonda but while she shows up throughout the movie, they don't give her as much time as they should, in my opinion. They tease romance between her and the lead but it's done really poorly, and the chemistry is terrible between them. Tony Geary, Kristy McNichol, and Charles Grodin all have great bit parts that I found fun to watch. Porn star Candie Evans even shows her amazing body off for a few seconds in two scenes. They all kept me watching, but wow, is this script bad.

Richard Martini wrote AND directed this, so he's the one to blame. I don't see a casting director but whoever got all these fun people to star in this is a genius.

It's not the worst thing I've ever seen but that's hardly a recommendation. If the cast interests you at all, it's better than staring at the wall, I guess. It's got a couple fun moments in it, but it's bad. Really bad. Good luck.

David Packer wants to find success, love, and his path in sunny California. Leaving his parents and home behind, he goes to live with a friend (Scott McGinnis.) The whole plot of the film is his experience of joining a dating service "Love Connection"-style and hooking up with supposedly nice girls and the quandaries they put him in. For such an obviously simple film, it has enough charm to make you relax and feel at home. This is not terribly inspired or original, but you get to see plenty of 1980s stars, such as David Leisure, Kristy McNichol, Sally Kellerman, Charles Grodin, Anthony Geary, Lu Leonard, Frank Bonner, Merete van Kemp (from Dallas and TV miniseries) and Bridget Fonda. I don't usually read other reviews, but I agree with a lot of them when I say "I ashamedly admit to enjoying and liking most of it." It's so unpretentious and is not in your face with crude jokes like others of its kind. In other words, this is better than it has any right to be, given the likable and down-to-earth lead actor and colorful and professional supporting players. The director rightly made a who's who cast to keep the viewer interested. While this is peppered here and there with some skin scenes for those who enjoy that sort of thing, on the whole, this is a better than usual 1980s film about a guy trying to find love.