Moon Over Parador

This is one the few movies I can watch over and over. If you've never seen it, give it a shot. Richard Dreyfus and Raoul Julia are wonderful together and although the movie amuses me greatly, it reminds me of Julia's untimely demise. It is a good opportunity to sit back and laugh at the international intrigue that is too much with us in these time of terror and fear.

MOON OVER PARADOR, Paul Mazursky's follow-up to the brilliant 'social class' comedy, DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS (1986), reteams the director with star Richard Dreyfuss, in one of the funniest 'Look-alike on the Throne' comedies of the past two decades.

The theme (a stand-in replaces an incapacitated or unavailable leader) has been a popular subject in film for years (THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, I WAS MONTY'S DOUBLE, THE EAGLE HAS LANDED, and DAVE are just a few examples), but Mazursky gives it a novel twist by making the 'hero' a ham actor of epic proportion (and NOBODY plays an egotistical actor better than Dreyfuss!), and the 'villain', a ruthless advisor who is a frustrated director, as well (Raul Julia, who is wickedly funny in the role).The comic chemistry between the pair works so well that you could easily mistake the film as being written by Neil Simon!

Parador, a tiny Caribbean nation where English is the national language, and revolution, the national pastime, is ruled with an iron hand by President Simms (Dreyfuss, with a moustache, paunch, and swarthy complexion). A larger-than-life, womanizing scoundrel, Simms is controlled, in turn, by opportunistic Secret Police chief Roberto Strausmann (Julia). Making a social visit to a American movie set, the dictator meets the picture's star, Jack Noah (Dreyfuss, again), who is goaded by his castmates into doing his popular over-the-top impression of the leader (fortunately for Noah, Simms finds it amusing).

After the shooting wraps, Noah, encouraged by a local American 'businessman' (Jonathan Winters, in a funny cameo), decides to stay for a few days to indulge at a national festival. Meanwhile, Simms is being soundly condemned by Strausmann for his public affair with Madonna, a notorious prostitute (played by Sonia Braga), as well as for his unhealthy lifestyle...and the dictator keels over and dies!

Things look bad for Strausmann, until he remembers the American...and Jack Noah is about to be 'drafted' to play the role of his career...

Full of humorous references to Broadway (Strausmann has reviews of EVERY play Noah had ever appeared in...and quotes some of the more 'colorful' ones, to the actor's chagrin), sight gags (Noah, as Simms, starts the befuddled household staff on a program of aerobics), and cameos (Sammy Davis Jr. sings Parador's 'National Anthem', and Mazursky, himself, appears in drag, as Simm's mother), MOON OVER PARADOR is a comic gem, with an over-the-top climax (which would be 'lifted' for Ivan Reitman's 'American President' comedy, DAVE), and a bittersweet ending that will certainly bring a smile to all but the most jaded viewer.

This film is DEFINITELY a keeper!

Hilarious comedy with Dreyfuss playing an actor who is asked by tough guy Julia to impersonate a dictator who has turned cold and very dead. Lots of laughs to be credited to director Mazursky, who makes an appearance in drag as the dictator's mother.

This is strictly speaking great. It's difficult to conceive of this movie working with any replacements in the cast - not only because the cast are so good, but also because they work so well together and because the production and direction are so excellent as well.

The cast are absolutely fabulous; the screenplay is better than the best; the directing leads to so many incidental perks the screenplay itself could not have indicated; this is a very funny and even touching film.

It's a small film in a way but it's a masterpiece. You might have to have a connection with or knowledge of the world of the theatre to get it (to appreciate it) but it's all there and everyone working on this movie had a ball, that much is certain.

We first saw this years ago on late night telly; we bought a video copy immediately; now it's back on late night telly again and it's great, it's wonderful.

It's such a refreshing change to see something intelligent that's well done. This isn't exactly the Hollywood norm. Movies like this one really entertain: you can judge this by calculating how long after the closing credits you're still feeling good.

This one can last for days.

This little-appreciated movie is one of my favorites. I can watch it over and over. Dreyfus and Braga are masterful, but Raul Julia steals the show! A tongue-in-cheek, menacingly humorous Gomez Addams, with just the right tone for this irreverent spoof of this oft-told story.

Generally untrumpeted and unappreciated, Moon Over Parador allows you to check out of reality and join the fun going on up on the screen. Two thumbs up!