Good Luck

Recently I found this movie at the video store and being a Vincent D'Onofrio fan I decided to give it a chance. I found the movie very entertaining. The beginning is a little cheesy but I think it gets going fairly quickly. There was a scene or two that could have been chucked out the window. I thought Lem and Olee were two good characters and both actors portrait was excellent. A better job could have been made at hiding mikes and editing scenes. However, Vincent D'Onofrio was terrific and I also liked farmer John who played Wojo on Barney Miller.

Two disabled create an odd couple formed by a previous football star named Ole(Vincent D'Onofrio: Law and order)who was blinded in a sport accident and a paraplegic named Bern(Gregory Hines:Cotton club) wheelchair bounded.Both cripples decide participate in a popular rafting competition called ¨Gold City Regatta¨ on Oregon's Rogue River(The event is actually celebrated in Portland,Oregon).In the beginning the head-strong Ole refuses but is early convinced by Bern to compete in the contest defying all those who think that two handicapped can drive a raft along the river.

This independent film with good intentions mingles humorous dialogue with chuckles,giggles and drama-comedy ,besides of numerous sex jokes and profanities .This comedy and sometimes drama is quite grossed but has its good moments here and there.The film relies heavily on the continuous relationship between two friends but is plenty of pranks and sexual and scatological references like the continuous talking lustfully by the opposite sex and the description of bowel moment.The highlights film are the train scenes,the exciting football competition between OLe and Bern against the villagers and of course the final rafting with the sensational participation of our starring. Terrific performance by the protagonists, engaging acting by Gregory Hines(He was an accomplished tap dancer,born 1946, died 2003 by liver cancer)as an obstinate paralytic and top notch Vincent D'Onofrio as a stubborn blind.Plus appear as secondaries Max Gail,Sara Trigger and uncredited James Earl Jones as a sports commentator on the start film.The flick is written by Comfort with a feel-good script and direction by Richard Labrie is amateurish although sometimes gets depth, sensitivity and feeling good in its handling about blindness and paraplegia matter.This is his only film,he's usually editor for Playboy movies.Rating : Acceptable and entertaining with marvellous performance by the two stars.

I don't think this movie has been given enough exposure. Not only is it the first movie that I remember seeing D'Onofrio in, but Gregory Hines turns out a wonderful performance, too. It isn't a deep movie- it is light entertainment- but it does that well. And the comedic acting is great- especially by D'Onofrio! The "physical" comedy alone, had me rolling the first time I saw it...and a small role by an old Barney Miller favorite, was an added plus. Give it a shot, on a night when you don't want to think too much, and just want to laugh.

Ole is a blind ex-NFL star. Bern is a crippled dentist who tutored Ole in math. And together, they're going to go white water rafting. That's right. It sounds ridiculous as hell, but it's a hysterically funny movie.

How this didn't get wide release, i'll never know. If they had cut out the brief nudity in the beginning, which doesn't seem to jive with the rest of the film, this probably would have brought in families with young children. Compare this to the drek that passes as comedy in Hollywood, and it really doesn't make much sense. Hines and D'Onofrio work better together than most duos i've ever seen.

This was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Two men, both handicapped as the results of freak accidents, journey together to compete in a river rafting competition. It focuses more on their bonding than the race itself, and that is what makes the film good. Rent it if you get the chance.

*** out of ****