Out Cold

Ernie and Dave were butchers in the army (during the opening credits photos of them in their uniforms, along with Sunny, are shown). They open their own butcher shop, and Ernie is married to Sunny. Ernie is abusive, and Sunny is cheating on him. And the door to the freezer in the butcher shop keeps closing and locking when someone is inside.

John Lithgow is at his best playing nervous characters who panic over every little thing. Of course, in this movie his character has plenty of reason to be nervous, and it doesn't help that Sunny is hiding some very important information from him. Teri Garr is not only good-looking but comes across as quite calm and pretty much in control. Randy Quaid is quite goofy as the detective Sunny hires to help her divorce Ernie. Like Dave, the detective also thinks he knows something that we know isn't true, and the results can be quite funny.

This wasn't all that great at first, but as the situations got sillier, I was really enjoying it. I've seen better movies like this, but this was pretty good.

With Teri Garr's recent passing, I decided to watch this one while scrolling through movies on the TV. I'd never seen it before, but this dark little comedy is fantastic! Garr is trapped in a loveless marriage with boorish Bruce McGill (ANIMAL HOUSE, MY COUSIN VINNY) and traps him in his butcher shop freezer, killing him. When the kindly business partner, John Lithgow, thinks he's the one who locked him in the freezer, the pair see about disposing of the body together in a manner so they won't get caught. It's a farcical door-slamming type of comedy, and it completely works, mostly thanks to Garr and Lithgow. There's also a funny performance by Randy Quaid as a bumbling P. I., and if you look fast, you can spot Larry Miller in one scene near the end. Interestingly, director Malcolm Mowbray earlier made another dryly hilarious butcher-themed comedy, A PRIVATE FUNCTION, with Michael Palin. Overall, this is a witty little black comedy for folks desiring a smaller, off-beat, and darkly funny comedy.

Sunny's marriage to ernie is on the rocks. Her hubby ernie runs a butcher shop with dave. So when someone gets locked in the freezer, all hell breaks loose. Was he knocked off, or was it accidental? Then an investigator gets involved and it gets even more complicated. It's all fine and dandy, but it was great buildup to a less than stellar ending. With all these comedy greats on the payroll, thet could have scripted a bigger, better ending. It kind of ends with a whimper. At first glance, it seems like an odd pairing of actors, but they are all great at comedy. Garr had already made HUGE hits in the 1970s and 1980s. Lithgow had some big films behind him, but this was years before third rock. I don't know too much about mcgill, but i do know he was mustache-guy in animal house! And randy quaid has also had some pretty funny bits. A fun, dark comedy, but could have had a more creative ending. Directed by malcolm mowbray.

I agree that this movie is underrated. The cast is perfect for the material, and it has a clever story with lots of surprises along the way. My only complaint is that it's too short, and that it could have maybe gone a little further with the dark humor. It seems to hold back and play it safe a lot of the time. Other than that it's a great movie!

Low-budget dark comedy that goes in all directions yet does an early fade. Ex-Army buddies-turned-butcher shop partners argue over family business and one of them ends up dead; the first butcher mistakenly thinks he himself is the murderer...until his partner's widow starts acting suspiciously. Barely-released picture with a terrific cast does show spirit and promise; it has a quirky edge that is sometimes playful and sometimes prickly, but unfortunately nobody seems able to keep this movie on track, and the plot bursts like a balloon leaving nothing but dead space in the final third. The performers are very good, particularly John Lithgow and Bruce McGill, but the players, the direction and the script are not in synch. ** from ****