Two Much

A great adaptation of one of Donald Westlake's sad-sack comedies, in this case about Antonio Banderas, an unsuccessful art gallery owner who ekes out his income by a variation on the Bible Salesman scam. He winds up engaged to a funny, screeching Melanie Griffith, in lust with her sister -- and Melanie's gangster ex-husband is after him.

This won't be to everyone's taste: Westlake's humor is a lot like Tim Burton's and it's a shame Burton has never tried his hand at one of Westlake's novels. None of the screen adaptations of his works have served him well, although the hard-to-find HOT STUFF, from his own script works well.

But this is about as good as it gets, with a perfect supporting cast, including Eli Wallach, Darryl Hanna, Danny Aiello and the woman who can make you laugh while she's having a nervous breakdown: Joan Cusack. Give this a try. And if you know Tim Burton, suggest he try a Dortmunder novel or two.

*The cast:

• Antonio Banderas : Art / Bart Dodge

• Daryl Hannah: Liz Kerner

• Melanie Griffith: Betty

• Joan Cusack: Gloria

• Eli Wallach: Sheldon

*The story:

Art Dodge is an art swindler. He looks at the death announcements in the papers. At the day of the funeral, thên he goes to the family and says that the dead person had bought a painting of him a few weeks before he died. At that moment, he meets Betty a rich woman who divorced the same man twice.

They fall in love with each other, but love becomes complicated when Art meets Betty's sister... he is deeply in love with her too. So he decides to transform himself in Bart (his twin brother) and then you get some humoristic moments, which aren't very funny at some moments.

Sheldon is the father of Art. Joan Cusack is the employee of Art.

An interesting note is that Melanie and Antonio fall in love on the set, and they married and had 1 child, Stella Banderas.

*Appreciation: This film is too confusing and although Daryl Hannah played her part wonderfully, the film has something of a disaster. Although the actors did their best to make a comedy. A catastrophe occurred

But don't forget that alL these actors had done some wonderful acting. Some examples; Melanie Griffith: Cecil B. Demented -- Daryl Hannah: Steel Magnolias -- Antonio Banderas: Philadelphia and Eli Wallach: the Misfits.

Sadly they made this time a wrong choice...

Mostly I like the movies that I saw and on the whole I give good comments about them. But this time I can only say that this film was a big disappointment and I hoped that it would have finished quickly. However I didn't lose my faith in the actors because it was just the wrong script that didn't work.

Rating: 5,5 /10

This movie has enough funny moments with some outstanding performances of Joan Cusack and (even though in a very small role) Vincent Schiavelli as Sommelier, watch and see what I mean, I fell of my chair with the few scenes with him. For me 7 out of 10.

Art Dodger is a BS peddler(get the pun to his name? Eh? Eh? It sets the tone for how "clever" this is), and as we find that the quality of it is rather lacking(no one could buy his stories, and few do), leading us to wonder how he gets by from it. He uses the obituaries to locate widows, and claims to be delivering paintings(provided by his...friend? Manny, who is... not skilled enough to be selling them without this trick... apparently? Even though it is at one point remarked that they're good, and this is said by an expert on the subject... don't ask) that their now deceased husband bought, so he can get the cash. Why the cons? Well, other than ensuring that he, like nearly everyone else in this, is powerfully unlikeable(it has to be intentional, no one is this inept), it's the only way he can think of to make ends meet for his gallery(I guess all the want ads panned out, and in spite of being a talented virtuoso himself, he hasn't touched a brush for a while because... because. Well, like everything in this, the lazily done and derivative script needed that to be the case). One day, he meets and starts having sex with Betty, who turns out to be an emotional wreck who wants to get married within that same 24 hours. This is evidently something she does all the time, although she only has one ex, who she got hitched with twice. No, none of this does make any sense or hold up to a single second's scrutiny. You're very perceptive. Said former beau(a man with anger issues who is literally following her around whenever he can) is after our lead, and we want him to catch him. So, our "hero" falls for his fiancés sister, Liz, with whom he is clearly better matched. She won't give him the time of day, on account of... hey, look over there! So he makes up a twin brother so he can woo her. Crazy hijinks ensue, with surprisingly little laughter to be had. Phew, done. Wow, all of that was just the basic setup for the plot. Convoluted much? I will admit that I am not a big fan of screwball comedy, but this is packed with uninspired jokes, with only occasionally one that might have you smiling, or chuckle briefly. I understand that part of this was on account of the director not speaking the language properly, and that does explain a lot(no one actually talks like these people do... and the dialog, even when realistic, is seldom funny). The characters behave in bizarre ways. Development, and the eventual "resolution"(it kind of just... stops) is forced and feels out of place. The main cast are wrong for their parts. This is in serious need of cutting down, as it is at least half an hour longer than it has any right to be. It isn't downright boring, and it could be a greater torment to watch than it is. On the plus side, Griffith and, more to the point, Hannah, spend a fair amount of time in swimsuits and the like. There are a couple of hints of sexuality and brief obscured nudity in this. I recommend this to people with low standards for this subgenre. 5/10

You will especially like this film if you are fans of Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith and Daryl Hannah. Nothing creative or unique, just good fun and nice eye candy for all to enjoy. You could probably drive down the road and get the milk and cereal for tomorrow's breakfast, while the movie is still running back home, and not miss much...but hey, this is just a comedy for a few laughs.