Ilegalmente Sua

This tight, consistent, clever script acted by the excellent Rob Lowe and the voluptuous Colleen Camp should have resulted in a 1980s WHAT'S UP DOC? Sadly, Lowe is no Ryan O'Neal, and Colleen Camp, while lovely to look at, shows why she typically plays the Friend and not the Leading Lady in her many films. Still, good direction could have saved the day, but Bogdanovich is no less miscast than his actors. The sense of comedic timing, so crucial to this or any type of comedy, is sorely lacking here. Possibly the lion's share of the blame should lie with the film editor, but the director is ultimately responsible for the failure of this film.

On the other hand, Colleen Camp gets more screen time in ILLEGALLY YOURS than in any film I can remember, so fans wishing to see more of her will want to view this flick. Rob Lowe fans, on the other hand, will find it more profitable to spend their time on his other, much better performances.

The 80s was Rob Lowe's decade; member of the Brat Pack, and the golden boy of cinema. Whilst usually cast just as the pretty boy, a sex-toy, Illegally Yours cast him as the silly, love-sick goof, who bumbles his way through a far-fetched silly murder cover-up from the point of view of a juror who was in love the suspect at junior school. The film is wall-to-wall one-liners, funny slapstick, slips and trips and Lowe falling over a lot. I've watched it a lot of times and it still makes me giggle, and there are lots of comedy set pieces; Lowe dressed as a woman in high heel slippers, the fantastic sunglasses disguise scene, his nervy rushing around, the crazy car chases and daft over-acting. It's not a film to take seriously, it's meant to be loopy and flying all over the place and I love it. It's not a 6/10 film as in superb cinematography but it's just a hoot. Every character is overblown, Colleen Camp and all the ensemble case are a caricature, funny, and I just love this film. It's one of my favourite comedies and they don't make them like this anymore – it's not rude, no bad language and really quite innocent. Turn back time and enjoy.

During the 1980s there were a whole series of movies that do not seem to have generated a great amount of publicity but were very entertaining, enjoyable, underrated and are presently of great nostalgic value. `Illegally Yours' definitely falls within this category.

Rob Lowe provides an excellent performance as the somewhat eccentric but nevertheless very amusing Richard Dice. The whole of the cast follows this high standard and quality of acting and their combined performances contribute a dimension of entertainment and enjoyment to this movie. The script is also quite interesting for a considerable period of time and the style and the format of this movie also enhances this quality. I would definitely rate this movie highly and provide it with a 9/10

Director Peter Bogdanovich seemed to have it all at one point early in his career, but I can't imagine a worse string of pictures than "At Long Last Love", "Nickelodeon", "Daisy Miller" and "Texasville", not to mention this one, a dud meant for theaters but relegated to dusty bins at the video store. Rob Lowe, outfitted to look like either Cary Grant or perhaps egomaniac Bogdanovich, stumbles around as a juror smitten with murder-suspect Colleen Camp. Camp, as proved in "They All Laughed" (a Bogdanovich bright spot), has the knack for screwball antics, but her character here is too brash and she fails to click with Lowe, whose bumbling is forced--to say the least. The convoluted plot hangs together by a thread, not helped by a bunch of "lovable" dopes in the supporting cast (including future Mrs. Bogdanovich, L.B. Straten). Cheeky, yes. Successful, no. *1/2 from ****

That quote is from P.J. O'Rourke's guide to hosting a party in his classic work, "The Bachelor's Home Companion". To me, it pretty much sums up the appeal (what there is of it) of this film. Or to put it another way, in his effort to construct a "screwball comedy", Bogdonovich kept throwing things at the wall in the hopes that some of them would stick.Fortunately, some things do.

Nothing about "Illegally Yours" is particularly inspired (in fact most of it is strained and contrived), and no one in it is particularly great at comedy...the best most of the actors can muster is a kind of wide-eyed incredulity. But the plot throws so many twists and turns at the viewer, and there are so many rapid-fire "bon-mots" and quirky lines and bad puns that eventually the movie reduced me to a state of mild bemusement...and after the movie had been hitting me over the head with "funny funny funny" for 40-50 minutes. I gave in and actually snorted with laughter once and chuckled a couple of other times. I even guffawed once. Just once, but that's still better than anything Ben Stiller has been able to do since "Mystery Men".

I think it was easier for American filmmakers impress American audiences with screwball humor before Monty Python,Red Green,"Black Adder","Fawlty Towers" and similar imports caught on here. In comparison to Pythonesque and Newhartesque whimsy and wordplay, this movie's script is a bit stodgy and leaden. But it's still mildly funny even today, and none of the players (even Rob Lowe, who I've never liked) have anything to be ashamed of here.

Do not skip your fiftieth viewing of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" to see "Illegally Yours", but if IY is on opposite something dull and unfunny like "Gone Fishing", you may want to check it out.