Find the Lady

I found this online recently. I'm a John Candy fan and had never heard of this one before. He looks to be in his early to mid 20's. If you're a fan of the zany Naked Gun/Airplane movies, you'll probably like this one. If you're not, you probably won't. It's a slapstick humor kind of movie. I enjoyed it for what it was.

Seeing John Candy on the video cover might give you a sense this movie would be a hilarious comedy, but it isn't the case for this one. This is an early acting appearance for Candy, who plays a bumbling detective named Kopek who, along with partner Broom (Lawrence Dane) tries to solve a complicated kidnapping case involving a businessman's daughter. These two characters reprise their roles from It Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time, released the previous year, though their screen time was somewhat limited.

The casting is appropriate, though, confusing: Peter Cook, Mickey Rooney, and Dick Emery as the bad guys and plenty of product placement for the Canadian pizza chain Pizza Pizza. There's not too many laugh-out-loud moments in this film, aside from a few instances of physical slapstick, especially the first ten minutes of the film, but it's, at least, watchable.

Like the one it spun-off from, it's not good... but it is slightly better.

'It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time' is rubbish, though 'Find the Lady' is a tiny bit of an improvement - emphasis on the world tiny. I like the cast in this one a tad more, obviously John Candy but also Lawrence Dane, Dick Emery and Mickey Rooney are also alright.

It's mainly the poor attempt at comedy and the story itself that is damaging to this 1976 film. I personally didn't find any part definitively funny, though I will say I did chuckle once or twice - one being when the bad guys are in the back of a truck trailer and Dane's character knocks on it... it's stupid, but it got a reaction out of me I can't lie.

with john candy, mickey rooney and peter cook you wouldn't blame me for hoping something interesting would happen. it didn't. what a mutt!

insipid jokes, terrible music, lousy lighting as well as the cheap and nasty location shoots, all give early indications of where canadian film making was headed. this is the film culture that flowered with "porky's".

don't watch this film. i beg you.

the gong sound everytime the chinese guy enters the room may be the most tasteless bit of the picture, but i don't know. anyone see anything less tasteful in there?

Before John Candy was really famous, he starred in this rather silly Canadian movie about a series of kidnappings. He plays police officer Kopek, investigating the kidnappings and getting into a bunch of loopy situations along the way. The only other cast member whom I recognized was Mickey Rooney, playing a trigger-happy hit-man named Trigger (although apparently, Peter Cook also starred).

Overall, "Find the Lady" is nothing special, mostly a series of gags, but it's pretty fun, especially the end scene. I guess that you could say that it backs up what Michael Moore always says: Canada is the greatest place on earth.