Rhinestone: Um Brilho na Noite

I watched this the other day FOR THE FIRST TIME might i add. I never even knew about this film until i saw it round a mate's house.

I watched it thinking is was one of those early cheese flicks that were around during the 80's, after Sly success with Rocky and before his success with Rambo. Happily i was wrong, this was hilarious.

The story is well done and one that was entertaining. I was expecting to fall asleep during this film but i stayed awake the whole time and didn't yawn once. Sly looked well out of place in this picture but that was the whole idea and he does it brilliantly, playing a New York Cabbie who don't know the first thing about country music. And when he sang during the first half of the movie it was in stitches. He was excruciatingly awful,and I was literally crying laughter. However when he did sing with the lovely Dolly Parton, he was good. This film is kind of like Rocky meets Nashville with a great performance from everyone involved.

Rhinestone is one of those gems of a movie that is a classic later on in it's years. This is Sly at his comedy best,he don't play it for laughs he is just himself (so to speak). Forget Stop or my mom will shoot or Oscar, this is Sly at his comedy best. he can do comedy and it shows right here.

I dare you not to be tapping your foot by the end. This will go with my Good Sylvester Stallone films.

This is a genuinely funny movie in parts and that may really be what it was all about and perhaps I should just accept it as such and leave it be. But this movie is so fun to trash! Dolly plays, well... Dolly, as she usually does in every movie she has ever been in. She is poured into impossibly tight outfits and she is indeed formidable. One wonders how she is able to breath in these tight outfits, much less talk and sing. Richard Farnsworth plays old codgers pretty well. Sylvester, steals the show playing a character so unlike anything he had played before (or since in fact). Well, the basic New York/East Coast type of guy seems to be a constant thing, but to take him out of Tennessee and attempt to make him into a country singer? Unfortunately, we see why his singing career never took off, despite his attempts to "sing funny" he sounds like a drunk in a karaoke bar at 2am and moves like he trying to do half-remembered Mick Jagger stage routines.

Funny movie though, his yelling and screaming while playing the organ made me laugh even before the scene's real punchline was revealed.

Recommended if you enjoy getting good looks at Dolly Parton's early 1980s figure and like seeing Stallone make fun of himself. Show this one movie with a selection of his early porn work and make the debacle complete.

This film is definitely a goof ball but that is what it set out to be. It's totally farcical & wonderful. Favourite scenes include Steven Apostle Peck who plays Sly's dad. The first is when we meet Peck's character in the organ room & the second is the hilarious scene around the dinner table. I bust a gut watching that scene. So funny.

One important thing I've learned in studying film is that there is a difference between a film you love & a great film. They can be one in the same, as is the case with a film such as The Godfather Part II. This is an masterfully made film that I enjoyed. Or they can be separate. For instance, I recognize that Slumdog Millionaire is a well made film, I just didn't like it. I didn't connect with it. I didn't care what happened. And on the converse, I recognize that Rhinestone isn't really that great a film but I really enjoyed it. I connected with the characters, it made me laugh & I generally found pleasure in it. So I rate it 10/10 for enjoyment.

Love to Steven Peck

This one was quite an embarrassment to Sly, as he's often said while interviewed. I like Dolly Parton & they no doubt had their fun making this film but I was as shocked as so many of Sly's other fans were to see him doing things here that are so un-like him & what he's 'expected' to be! So much of it was 'un-cool'. Yet there were some tender moments between him & Dolly. All in all, if these 2 wanted to do a film together, they needed another vehicle. It seemed Sly moved over in Parton's 'territory' when she should have moved on over to his if they wanted this to work. Of course, that's just my opinion. Rent this one if you want to laugh at Sly.

Now, there are lots of films that are total trash, and when I saw the comments and reviews on this one, I thought I was in for a real stinker. Big surprise: I actually laughed several times during this! Dialogue unfunny? I've heard some good stuff here (e.g. the comments by Stallone on his rival Barnett, as well as the dialogue of these two), and you could do a lot worse. And I mean A LOT! Bad acting? Now, Sly will never be an oscar-winner (though he was pretty good in COPLAND), but at least he's likeable. I've never seen Steven Seagal or my fellow countryman JC Van Damme being likeable. Dolly may not be the greatest actress either, but hell, she CAN sing (and I thought I couldn't stand country!)and she's adorable in a way that even reminds me of Marilyn Monroe. Love it when she laughs too. Well, and with support from actors such as Ron Leibman (Razzie nominee? This guy is funny and appropriately slimy)and Richard Farnsworth (THE STRAIGHT STORY, always a pleasure to watch). The singing? Well, if ya like Dolly's singing, there's plenty of it in this film. And Sly ain't that bad either. Not great, but hey, what you expect given the story. This is supposed to sound like this, this ain't the biography of say Garth Brooks! I even liked the macho country singer singing about his girl ending up in pieces (lol).

I know, this ain't the greatest comedy of all times, this ain't a rave review, and people (especially critics) like to make fun of Sly and Dolly. But you can do a lot worse than this and end up with films such as BAD DEFENSE or BATMAN & ROBIN, EXCESS BAGGAGE, SHALLOW HAL or (shudder) BLIND DATE (with Bruce Willis). I was really surprised that I ended up enjoying this, and that I actually laughed a couple of times. The story has almost no surprises, but it ain't terribly cliched either. And that, people, is more than you can say about 90% of the comedies these days. 6/10