It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

I must say that the blatantly false advertising used to sell this movie today is a disgrace. On the cover was a giant picture of John Candy with his name over the title, and the reverse said that he headed up the cast. However, when you watch the movie, you find an old '70s movie in which a much younger-looking John Candy plays a very small part.

Despite the false pretense under which I purchased the movie, I do believe it was still worth the watch. It is campily-humorous per the time period in which it was made, and includes the bonus of the appearance of Isaac Hayes as the lead's best friend. Though not one of my favorites by a long shot, its low-brow humor is entertaining enough for the price I paid. While some of those bargain bin movies have been bad enough to never merit a second glance, this one remains in my collection as worthy of an occasional viewing.

Rather rubbish.

1975's 'It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time' is supposed to be a comedy but I can't say I laughed, or even really chuckled, once, it's a bit of a slog to sit through; despite a short run time of 90 minutes.

A flick seemingly most known for being the second film role of John Candy, who I'm surprised to see got a spin-off from this with co-star Lawrence Dane - neither of them stood out to me to be honest, especially (the eventually great) Candy. Of the other cast members, Stefanie Powers is alright but Anthony Newley's character kinda irritated more than anything else unfortunately.

I shall still check out spin-off 'Find the Lady', in hope more than expectation that it'll be better than this - presumably with Candy as lead, it stands more of a chance than it otherwise would to be fair.

I borrowed it from work where we test TVs and yes, the movie isn't the greatest but does have one merit: It is a time capsule. The thing that got me was a lot of the seventies culture and life style in the movie is there, like the old pulse dial telephones, the old vehicles, like the yellow beatle, and the VW minibus. Oh, and there's the stubbies! Those old bear bottles, before bear bottles where what I know them to be today. That is what I watched the movie for.

Lame plot, yes, for sure, but it also had a very young John Candy (May he rest in peace) in it as well, and that says something for sure. This movie should be kept for time capsule reasons, and should also be kept as an example of what a poor movie looks like: Something film school students should watch for sure.

I unfortunately purchased this movie and the sequel, "Find the Lady" for 10 bucks. I am a big fan of John Candy and the back of the box made it seem better than it is. But after I watched the first one, I threw both of them out without ever seeing "Find the Lady." This movie is just slapstick with no point. It's not even Three-Stooges-quality slapstick, it's just plain pointless. I should've listened to that first review, but I saw it anyway. Don't make my same mistake. If you purchased the same two-pack as I did, do yourself a favor and give it to someone you don't like for his / her birthday.

I might have given it a higher rating, if there was any way to figure out what was going on. Stephanie Powers is gorgeous. Yvonne DeCarlo has a great expressive face, that is wonderful to see. A young John Candy has a minor role, which was kind of fun. Some of the outfits and 1970's fashions were really awesome. Unfortunately, the plot is truly incomprehensible. The direction is uneven, at best. The script is deranged - there does not appear to be a real plot at all. I got to the last scene, and still did not know what the point of this movie was. All I can say is, it was a waste of a dollar at Walmart. Not to mention an hour and a half of my time. I cannot believe that a studio paid to have this movie made, let alone releasing it on DVD.