My Chauffeur

This is a light-hearted, cute movie about a girl whose father works in a snobby, stuffy chauffeur company. Things quickly change as she joins, turns the company inside out, and falls in love with one of the customers.

Okay, so it's not THE best movie, but most people should like it. I give it a B+. It's got some good jokes, one-liners and a reasonable plot.

This movie is almost impossible to watch. Even my old lady who picked it out wanted to turn it off after the first ten minutes, but we persevered for the full 90 minutes of occipital torture.

The chick from Valley Girl is cute but one cute girl and a lame Penn and Teller bit do not make a movie great. Why does this chick want to be a limo driver so bad. What's with the lame 80's soundtrack? Couldn't they have sprung a little extra for some tunes that people have heard on the radio? Sam Jones fan since Flash but come on man, his character is even more one dimensional than Flash. Penn and Teller, great I dig them, what will they do? Well dear friends, they will do a tired, hack, unfunny bit that would have stunk as a one minute bit, but stretch it into a 15 minute borefest. I really had to put my full weight down on my lady to keep her on the sofa during the miserable Penn and Teller portion of the film.

Finally, what really upset me most was Sam Jones' unexplained super quick face turn. I mean he is the heel all movie long. Valley Girl and Sam walk in the woods, he is still heel. Then they find a cabin and bam immediate face turn, asking Valley Girl to marry him. Just 30 seconds before he wanted her fired and showed no emotion towards her. What happened? Did the editor have to trim 20 minutes of the film where it showed Valley Girl warming Flash's heart? Avoid at all costs, even free on basic cable or Netflix. I dig Sam Jones, the Valley Girl broad, EG Marshall, and that one handed villain from Live and Let Die with the alligators but come on man, let this movie rest in piece.

Free-spirit, fast-talking Casey Meadows (Deborah Foreman) works as a lowly dishwasher. She receives a letter from wealthy benefactor Witherspoon (E.G. Marshall) hiring her as a new driver for Brentwood Limousine. Supervisor McBride (Howard Hesseman) is horrified by the change in the stuffy all-male operation. Ruthless business Battle (Sam J. Jones) is one of her clients and he gets dumped by his girlfriend.

This is a fun 80's flick. Deborah Foreman was an 80's IT girl. She is adorable doing this wide-eyed, open-hearted character. Penn and Teller do a memorable hustler and Arab sheikh combo. The drawback is mainly Sam Jones. He's not a good enough actor to dig deeper into his character but he's mostly fine. He needs to be a romantic lead but he's more of a linebacker or a villain henchman. The writing is passable for an 80's comedy. The material is elevated whenever Foreman gets to deliver a fun line.

OK, so it's no epic piece of cinematic history, and sure it's a formulaic and derivative romantic comedy, but I still rank it as one of my all-time favorite films because it possesses a wonderful plot structure, engaging vignettes ("A blue lady with a blue dog! That's 20,000 points!"), well-drawn characters, witty dialog, a lot of heart and a lot of laughs - not to mention a finger-snapping, so-80s soundtrack from a seemingly never-to-be-heard-from-again band called The Wigs "My Chauffeur" is all-around well written and well realized. Watching this film, you can tell the people involved both in front of and behind the camera really put their imaginations and talents into crafting something special. Deborah Foreman is quirky-cute-cool as Casey Meadows, an aspiring limo driver who shakes up the stuffy status quo of Brentwood Limousine Company when she's hush-hush hired by its reclusive owner (E.G. Marshall). She faces the cold shoulders of all of the older male drivers, save for a paternal Irish gent (played marvelously by Sean McClory) who takes her under his wing. Sam Jones is marvelous as Battle Witherspoon, the dictatorial corporate suit who's all business and no pleasure - until he meets Foreman's Casey and slowly melts for her. The romance that ensues between them is surrounded by a wonderful cast of characters who populate the movie's tangental scenes, such as the one that features the film debut of Penn & Teller (as a con man and a Middle Eastern prince, respectively). Myself, I get a little choked up every time I see the scenes where Casey comes to the transportation rescue of a young man being berated by his girlfriend for not having a car, and where Battle finally realizes what a jerk he's been and commands his long-suffering, single-mom secretary to march down to human resources the following Monday and name her own raise. Touching, heartfelt, sincere stuff. Yeah, it's a fairy tale film filled with other little fairy tales, but that's what makes it so much fun. Even more fun: "My Chauffeur" has one of the most fall-down laughing drunk scenes I've ever seen. After Jones' character gets dumped by his girlfriend, he gets rip-roaring blotto in the back of Casey's limo. Chugging scotch, primal screaming and spewing venom he declares his freedom and commences to streak stark naked through a neighborhood park. In terms of sheer hilarity it rivals the scene in "The Money Pit" where Tom Hanks laughs himself into hysterics after the bathtub plunges through the bathroom and shatters on the first floor. It's just movie magic. As you can tell, I've seen this film a few times, and will undoubtedly see it a few more in my lifetime. But everytime I see it, there is some bittersweetness that manifests itself as the credits roll at the end as I ask myself "where are they now?"

Quite possibly the best film ever made! Okay, maybe i'm exaggerating but it's a really fun film filled with wacky characters and that distinct LA 80's feel.

What sets this film apart is the dynamic lead performance by Deborah Foreman (where have you gone, Debbie?) In terms of comic timing and just being so damn adorable she rivals Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby (a film which My Chauffeur most resembles)

David Baierd's direction keeps things brisk and light yet there are demented touches here and there which give the film a unique off-balanced vibe.

Check this film out if you can and expect a pleasant surprise. I'll re-watch it again and again and have a blast each and every time.