Leonard Part 6

This film was made nearby where I lived in 1986. Many residents had to put up with trailers on the street and generators running into all hours of the evening. We did however, get to see Cosby shoot a scene, so that was fun.

When it came time to see his creation, the disappointment was even greater having expected at least something of fair value. The film is disjointed, as if the writer quit in the middle. The relationship between Cosby - a master spy living in an enormous house - and his unhappy wife (who lives in the enormous house next door, which is supposed to be a funny circumstance) took time to develop. Then it was immediately lost in some mad-cap chase scenes in a warehouse.

There is nothing interesting about this film. There must be a story behind how it got made. Cosby is a man of talent, but this film showed none.

Bill Cosby must have lost some kind of bet with Satan to end up making a film as mind-meltingly dreadful as "Leonard Part 6". A stupefyingly unfunny, self-indulgent mess of a film that will have you wanting to tare your skin off with your fingernails just so you'll have something else to do.

Back in 1987, Bill Cosby was the king of comedy on television. His '80s sitcom "The Cosby Show" was the #1 TV show in America. So one question still puzzles me today. During his time away from the show, why did he produce, wrote the original story to, and star in "Leonard Part 6"? This movie is totally inept from beginning to end. No laughs. No excitement. No fun. Just 85 minutes of 100% ineptitude. Forget about it!

No stars (out of four)

A complete dud. Stuck with a stupid script and in the middle of moronic proceedings, Bill Cosby looks utterly bored and desperate. This is the type of film that has NOTHING redeeming about it, and even thinking about it for a minute longer than its running time is a real waste of effort. Worthless. (*)

I love the IMDb but I've noticed a very sad trend... seems like users here feel they have to defend truly terrible movies. Just look at the user reviews for "Hudson Hawk" or "Ishtar" and you'll see titles like "Not As Bad As They Say," "Under-Rated Classic," and the offensive "I LOVE This Movie."

Grow up! It's not a good idea to rescue trash cinema from the dumpster. Let's be adults and let films like "Leonard, Part 6" get the treatment they deserve. And oh how this film deserves a lot of treatment... "Leonard" is a movie with no redeeming value. Bill Cosby stars as a secret agent who has to save the world from an evil woman who blah blah blah... why bother? The movie tries to be an action film while simultaneously spoofing action films. (Schwarzenegger would later fail at this with the nauseating "Last Action Hero") What we're left with is a mess of a movie and Cosby- one of the all-time great comedians- can't even get one genuine laugh out of the deal. I have a passion for bad movies- B-Movies, exploitation flicks, horror films, you name it- but this movie lacks the impact to even be bad. It's just stupid.

How stupid? At the time of the film's release Cosby himself went on TV and asked people NOT to see the movie because it was so bad. I cannot think of a single instance in the history of Hollywood where an actor- or anyone- has done ANTI-publicity for a movie. Bill said this because he cares and he wanted to save you time and money.

So do I. While it might be tempting to listen to the revisionist reviewers who want to impress you with their outrageous opinion and 10-star ratings sometimes its better to just turn the page. Now let's all go someplace else and do something different and forget we were ever here.

GRADE: D-