Hardly Working

I watched this movie and LOVED it!! It might not be Jerry's best but it is still a very good movie. Just because one person viewed the movie and did not care for it does not mean that everyone should write it off as a bad movie...Please, watch this movie and form your own opinion. I LOVE JERRY LEWIS!!!!

Hardly Working (1980)

1/2 (out of 4)

Bo Hooper (Jerry Lewis) is a life long clown who finds himself out of work after the circus goes out of business. He ends up moving in with his sister and brother-in-law until he can find a job. He's able to get one job after another but he is quickly fired because he just isn't too bright. He eventually lands a job at the post office but his boss (Roger C. Carmel) hates him and that hatred grows even stronger when the boss finds out that Bo is dating his daughter (Susan Oliver).

HARDLY WORKING turned out to be the first Jerry Lewis film in a decade because THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED ended up never getting released. This "comeback" film had all sorts of problems including the production being shut down for several months because not enough money could be raised. The result on film is pretty bad on a number of levels but one of the biggest is the fact that the comedy just doesn't have many laughs that actually work. The production issues also how because the first half dealing with the brother-in-law is completely missing in the second half.

The first portion of the movie is basically just one poor skit after another. We see Lewis attempting to do various jobs with all of them ending in disaster. This includes one sequence involving him working at a gas station where he ends up destroying a car. The second portion of the movie gets away from the skit platform and deals with the romance with the girl. The problem is that these two different types of movies don't mix well together but the bigger issue is the fact that there aren't many laughs. The comedy is very forced but the direction by Lewis is less than impressive.

Roger Ebert really trashed this movie and called it one of the worst American films he ever saw. I wouldn't go that far but there's no question that Lewis was trying to recapture a former magic and it just doesn't work. The start of HARDLY WORKING has clips from previous Lewis movies as if he was trying to show people how funny he was at one time. Sadly there are very few laughs here and in the end it's quite forgettable and rather sad.

I've never given a review before but after reading all the crappy reviews written by people and downing this movie, I had to. I simply couldn't believe the number of negative reviews for this movie.

This movie was VERY funny if you're into nutty comedy which I am.

There's a scene where Jerry is working in this club and he's trying to pour these drinks while next to the stage where a woman is dancing and he just can't take his eyes off this gal and he's missing the cups while pouring and it's so funny.

Another scene is one that when I first saw it I thought I'd actually die from laughter. Jerry is in an office applying for a job at a Postal Office and the Chief is talking to him and the whole time a box of duncan donuts is sitting on the desk and Jerry is trying to NOT look at it and trying to pay attention to the chief at the same time and finally Jerry reaches over and touches the powdered one and kind of runs his finger down the donut and the chief asks "would you like a donut?" and Jerry immediately says "where are they?". And I think the chief says take a half or something like that and Jerry grabs one takes a bite out of it and then puts it back as to change his mind and grabs another one.

Jerry Lewis is very funny and this movie is GREAT. Watch it, love it, dig it. You wont be disappointed unless you've got a donut stuck up your humor hole. In that case, there's no hope for you anyway. Stick with Action and drama in that case and leave the comedy loving to me and others.

I saw this when it was first released, in a theater filled to the gills with rabid Jerry Lewis fans (of which I am one) who were all ecstatic to be seeing a new Jerry Lewis movie after all those years. The opening montage of scenes from his earlier films was greeted with cheers, and this giddy enthusiasm carried over for the rest of the film. (The donut scene was a particular favorite--everybody there totally "got" it.) Good spirits and joyous Jerry Lewis fandom abounded in that theater that night, and I had a wonderful time.

Whenever I see this movie now, I recall the feelings I had when I first saw it that night. Maybe you had to see it in that context and that frame of mind to truly enjoy it. Anyway, I'm still a huge Jerry Lewis fan as I have been all my life, and I enjoy all of his movies from the highs of THE NUTTY PROFESSOR and THE LADIES MAN to the lows of WHICH WAY TO THE FRONT? and HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER. Now if I could just see THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED, my life would be complete.

This Jerry Lewis project does not ring with the sound of success. This film is way below the high standards that the legendary star/director has set for comedy flicks. The plot is quite simple and most of the sight gags are over done. A bumbling idiot has trouble keeping a job. He has tried being a circus clown, gas station attendant and even delivering the U.S. Mail. Unlucky in the working world, but lucky in love. Go figure.

Also in the cast are Susan Oliver, Harold Stone and Stephen Baccus.