Cadillac Man - Mister occasionissima

Joey O'Brien (Robin Williams) is a relentless car salesman. The car lot is moving and there will fewer sales jobs. He has two days to sell 12 cars to make an impression. He spends all of his money on the women in his life; ex-wife Tina (Pamela Reed), married woman Joy Munchack (Fran Drescher) and party girl Lila (Lori Petty). Then Larry (Tim Robbins) breaks in with a gun suspecting his wife Donna (Annabella Sciorra) is cheating with somebody in the car lot. Donna is grazed by a bullet. Joey tries to take the blame for an affair despite not sleeping with Donna. He tries to talk Larry down as the police surrounds them.

Everything is wacky. Everybody is loud. They are all yelling. It is generally not funny except when Robin gets a few laughs with the help of Tim Robbins. I do not see Roger Donaldson as a funny director. It is trying to be Dog Day Afternoon but it does not have the gritty reality. Even the cops are deliberately loud. The police negotiator is one of the most antagonist negotiator in any movie. Everyone is deliberately set on edge and it does not make it funny.

This movie is funny, insightful, and alarming all at the same time. This is a synopsis of mostly Italian American life in working class burroughs of NY (Queens, Long Island, whatever). Joey (Robin Williams) is juggling two neurotic girlfriends and an ex-wife while struggling to keep his job as a smooth talking car salesman. The movie starts off with a shot of a cemetery in Queens, the biggest damn cemetery I have ever seen. It gives you the feeling of crowdedness, that even in death people are crowded and are probably still arguing over elbow room. Joey is desperate and even tries to sell a car to a widow as she is burying her husband. Eventually, a distraught and somewhat deranged husband of the car dealer's secretary takes over the dealership with a machine gun, convinced that somebody there is screwing with his sexy wife (which is true). It isn't Joey, but he takes the rap and tries to talk the guy down, doing a pretty good job. Car salesman becomes psychologist, and he does an amazingly good job, along with help from a phone call from both his wife and his mother to the distraught man. This is the best part of the movie. You see Joey and Larry (Robbins) play out this scene with both humor and fright. Larry is trying to prove his manhood to his wife. You understand his plight and feel his pain, and at the same time you see the mans compassion, especially with the phone calls from Joey's ex-wife and mother. There is something very real about this scene and I would think that someone who has to talk down a hostage situation might gain something from watching how Joey makes connections with Larry on a personal level. Eventually Larry sees what a mess Joey's life is and starts to see that actually his situation isn't that bad. This movie is as much about the alienation and frustration of modern life as anything else. The movie is loud and frantic and might put you off in that respect, but hang with it.

Robin Williams sells Cadilacs at one of those lots that dot post-industrial North Queens. He loves selling cars, and he loves women. That's a lot of women, including his ex-wife and three girl friends, one of whom is married. So when Tim Robbins comes in with a plastique bomb because he thinks Williams is making love to his wife, Williams has to sell him on the fact that he shouldn't do that. And the thing in common with all good salesmen is they believe in what they're selling, whether it's true or not.

Most of the movie is Williams driving around from one neatly compartmentalized part of his life to the other, breaking the fourth wall to chat with the audience. The scene with Robbins, however, is some top notch acting, sounding wholly unrehearsed by both both men.... and quite mad. Those sequences make this a great movie.

Robin Williams gives yet another superb performance as an egotistical car salesman who is about to confront all of his demons (ex-wife, girlfriends, Mafia buddy) in one very long afternoon when Tim Robbins crashes into the door and holds him and the customers hostage. Incredibly funny, vividly life-like with an unpredictable ending. Not one to miss.

It's 6.5 out of 10 stars for me for this dramedy that should have stayed nearer to drama toward the end.

What's great about it: Williams' performance. I don't think people were ready, at this time of his career, for a nuanced performance, but that's what this is. He breaks into being the crazed Williams of talk shows only twice, and briefly, during this film. Otherwise he is convincing as a middle-aged car salesman with complicated relationships and the absence of a long-term plan. His excellence at sales isn't limited to cars; he can talk many women into bed, and that's his downfall.

Robbins is also good as a stupid, jealous husband with a gun.

What's not as good: the supporting characters at the car dealership were under-written. The Chinese restaurant and police captain stuff was awful. I can't stand Fran Drescher, and I can't stand her here. (If you like her, you'll like her here.) The dog she's carrying was used too much, and I realize the yappiness was supposed to heighten the tension, but mostly it made me want to look for my own gun or consider shutting off the DVD. I never did see that his sacrifice during the hostage-taking was fully motivated. (Seems drastic to be willing to die just to avoid a stressful day.)

I did like the character of the ex-wife and that of the wannabe awful clothes designer girlfriend #2, played well by Lori Petty. Also, I liked the bizarre opening scene which is in the middle of a funeral procession. There's a how-to writing book I once read that said, bring all your characters on stage with their (attributes) flying. This opening scene did just that, so kudos to Ken Friedman.