Io, modestamente, Mosè

This gets such a bad rap, but it is actually an interesting and amusing flick. With a cast including Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor, Madeline Kahn, and Dom Delouise, it has ample star power to get your viewing eyes and ears through with minimal disappointment. It may not be extremely well acted or directed, but the obvious improvisation acting is superb and carries the film. This movie does something rare to stay afloat, it never takes itself too seriously, even as comedies go. Perhaps not a great, but definitely a good flick, watch it once, you'll be glad you did. It's Dudley Moore and Richard Pryor for chrissake!! How could it be as bad as this site says it is??? It can't, and it is not, check it out.

Released the year before The History of the World: Part One, Dudley Moore took his own crack at a biblical spoof: Wholly Moses! In it, a group of modern tourists are being bused through Israel, and during a lunch break, two of them (Dudley and Laraine Newman) wander off and come across an ancient scroll telling the tale of a man who lived through Biblical times but wasn't included in any text. Parts of it are really funny, like when Dudley does all the classic things Moses did in the Bible - but not really. He thinks he parted the waters, but really someone else dammed up the river with boulders. He thinks he can cure the blind and lame, and when he comes across a beggar with both afflictions, he declares his intention to fix his ailments. The beggar is faking it to get money from the townspeople, so when Dudley pokes his eye, he exclaims, "What are you trying to do, blind me?" Everyone is impressed because he can "now" obviously see. Other parts aren't that great, as it's easy to imagine the screenwriters just thought the jokes were funny while sitting around the table or rehearsing. Some jokes are milked too much, and if you don't like anachronistic humor, you don't stand a chance at laughing.

I thought James Coco was very cute as Dudley's father and devoted slave. You'll see tons of familiar faces in the supporting cast, from cameos to larger parts: Richard Pryor, Dom DeLuise, Jack Gilford, John Houseman, Madeline Kahn, Paul Sand, and John Ritter. You can give it a shot, and if you laugh at about fifty percent of the jokes, you'll probably enjoy it. If you can't stand it after about twenty minutes, it won't get any better for you.

While touring the Middle East Harvey and Zoey get off the bus and find some scrolls in a cave. They chronicle the life of Herschel; as Harvey starts reading, we are carried back to the actual time and given a first-hand look at what took place with Herschel and Moses. Several times God speaks to Moses and Herschel is in earshot and thinks it is he being addressed.

My favorite scene is when they are both in baskets floating down the Nile and Moses gives Herschel's basket a push-off course and changes the course of history.

Dudley Moore is Harvey/Herschel and Laraine Newman is Zoey/Zerelda. Many great actors are choice picks for the characters. A shortlist: Richard Prior - Pharaoh John Ritter - Satan (The Devil) Lisa Caimano - Baby Moses John Houseman - The Archangel.

This film is for people with different tastes. I actually like this movie. In fact it's the only film I like of Dudley Moores. (RIP) It has a couple amusing moments, maybe not laugh out funny, but the comedy is restrained. Anyway I do recommend this movie for a Saturday afternoon, sort of along the lines of Abbott and Costello.

7 out of 10. I liked it.

Just speaking personally, this viewer would agree with one other review here: the material in this star-packed parody is amusing if never terribly funny. Screenwriter Guy Thomas and director Gary Weis have their hearts in the right place, but too many of the jokes fell flat and the movie became somewhat boring as a result, which is compounded by the fact that it's slowly paced and goes on a little too long. Now, that's not to say that there aren't some great moments, because there are. They just happened to mostly occur in the second half, so there was a bit of a wait.

Dudley Moore and Laraine Newman star as Harvey and Zoey, two tourists taking in the sights of the Holy Land who go off on their own and explore a nearby cave, where they find an ancient scroll. Harvey is able to translate it, so he spends the balance of the movie relating it to Zoey: it's the story of Herschel (Moore again), son of a slave named Hyssop (James Coco), who has many travels and at one point becomes a brother in law to Moses! When God entrusts Moses with the mission of freeing the Jews in Egypt from bondage, Herschel spends most of the movie thinking the request was directed at him. He meets many characters on his journeys: an Angel of the Lord (Paul Sand), a tailor (Jack Gilford), Shadrach (Dom DeLuise), an Archangel (John Houseman), a witch (Madeline Kahn), a beggar (David L. Lander), a pharaoh (Richard Pryor), and the Devil (John Ritter).

It's the earnest efforts of this capable comedy cast that make "Wholly Moses!" worth sitting through. This viewer personally found the appearances by DeLuise, Houseman, Pryor, and Ritter particularly delicious. There are also some little gags worth noting, such as when a character is turned into a pillar of salt, and Hyssop scrapes some of the salt into his food. The scenery and widescreen photography are gorgeous, and the production design / art direction / set decoration team certainly do their jobs well; the movie has a good look. In addition to the famous faces (also including Andrea Martin as Zipporah), the cast features some top notch character actors: Richard B. Shull, William Watson, Sandy Ward, Brion James, and Michael Champion. Walker Edmiston, who'd provided the incredibly creepy vocalizations for the Zuni fetish doll in the final segment of 'Trilogy of Terror', does the voice of God.

With so much talent assembled here, it's too bad this couldn't have provided more laughs. It's watchable but is never as hilarious as one might wish.

Five out of 10.