Um sem Juízo, Outro sem Razão

'Another You' at the time, and still is now, the most poorly received Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor film in terms of box office and critical reaction, being both a box office failure and considered by a good many as their worst.

From personal opinion, 'Another You' is agreed their weakest, but it is nowhere near as bad as its reputation while also having potential to be much better. Of their four double act collaborations, my personal favourite is 'Silver Streak' while also really enjoying 'Stir Crazy' mostly (where the partnership between the two is more equal and even more inspired) if not as even (with a second half that doesn't fare as well as the first half). 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil', a critical failure but unlike 'Another You' a box office success, was uneven and not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but was also not as bad as reputed.

There are good things about 'Another You'. It looks pretty good, really liked the rustic costume and set design and the photography doesn't look too cheap. Charles Gross' music is a good, sometimes quirky, never over-bearing and rarely mismatched, fit.

Wilder and Pryor work very well together and show what a great double act and comedy duo they were. Wilder does give the better performance here, being full of energy and sometimes very funny. Pryor is hampered by the multiple sclerosis that he was suffering from at the time, which makes him look ill and stiff, and he is a little underused and for Pryor fairly subdued, this said he still provides enough entertaining moments and is very much watchable.

Some of the dialogue and jokes are fun and witty too. That quality doesn't come through consistently enough, but 'Another You' is one of those films that has its good moments and elements and hardly irredeemably bad. The supporting cast do well with what they're given, what 'Another You' has over 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil' is that the supporting cast are better here.

However, the story mostly is non-descript, and what there is of it is jumbled and disjointed. It also has erratic pacing, sometimes rushed, at other times with a few dull stretches, and it could have done with being 10-15 minutes longer to tie things up more tightly. Despite a decent premise, the laughs don't come consistently. Parts of the dialogue are lacklustre, there are some tasteless and less than subtle jokes about the mentally ill (which is one of the reasons why 'Another You' is Wilder and Pryor's weakest, because despite a lack of subtlety in places 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil' handled its premise nowhere near as distastefully as it potentially could have done) and the yodelling scene agreed is an embarrassment and should have been left on the editing room floor.

Overall, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor's weakest film but not as bad as reputed. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Another You (1991)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Eddie Dash (Richard Pryor) is a con man who is forced to do community service so he agrees to take George (Gene Wilder) out of his sanitarium and go to a museum. Eddie is meant to show George a good time but before long George is mistaken for Abe Fielding, a very rich and very popular man. Eddie sees this as a way to get some quick cash so he plays along.

ANOTHER YOU has a really awful reputation for a number of reasons including the fact that it had a lot of pre-production issues, script re-writes and various other problems that ran into the production. It turned out to be a box office disaster and in fact it would be the final theatrical film for Wilder. With all of that being said, I think time has been quite friendly to the fourth and final teaming of Pryor and Wilder.

That's not to say that ANOTHER YOU is some sort of masterpiece because it isn't. You can call it the worst film that the duo made but that's just because they made three very good movies together and this one here it at least very funny in spots. There are many hilarious moments scattered throughout the film but the highlight from me happens early on when Wilder's character finally breaks and begins to lie. This long sequence inside a restaurant has Wilder at his very best as he goes from one personality to the next and it's very funny.

As you'd expect, Wilder and Pryor have some wonderful chemistry together and they just bounce off one another so perfectly that it's bound to get some laughs. You can tell Pryor was in the early stages of his Multiple Sclerosis but he still offers up a good performance. The film clearly belongs to Wilder who gets the better of the two roles and does a fine job with it. Mercedes Ruehl is also a lot of fun in her role and we get a nice supporting cast including Stephen Lang, Vanessa Williams, Peter Michael Geotz, Kevin Pollack and an uncredited Michael J. Pollard who also appeared in BONNIE AND CLYDE with Wilder.

The problem with ANOTHER YOU is that the last forty-minutes are pretty much dead. There's a twist in the story and the entire film changes, which is really too bad because this twist does nothing but add extra characters that weren't needed. What was working so well between Wilder and Pryor is pretty much thrown out the window and sadly the film does end on a sour note. Still, there are enough laughs here to make ANOTHER YOU worth watching.

In this 1991 Tristar Pictures release, Richard Pryor once again portrays a con man and once again Gene Wilder is his costar. Their fourth collaboration may most likely be their last as Pryor's increasing signs of multiple sclerosis made filming extremely difficult for him to get through. It's a real shame in the world of contemporary film comedy as Pryor's possible cinematic swan song (if you don't count his cameos in two 1996 films, "Lost Highway" and "Trigger Happy") turns out to be one of his funniest films and best performances. Pryor portrays Eddie Dash, a con man who has just been released from prison but still has to serve time for community service. He is assigned to be a public escort for a pathological liar (Wilder) who has just been released from a mental hospital. What Pryor doesn't initially know about Wilder is that he is the pawn in a scam to claim a brewery inheritance. The two of them eventually wind up running for their lives when some greedy businessmen decide that they want to cash in on the fortune. Plenty of funny moments from the always dependable duo of Pryor and Wilder.

The Wilder/Pryor comedy team made some really amazing, pretty much perfect comedies in their time... and even though this movie does not hold a candle to their best (See No Evil Hear No Evil, Silver Streak, Stir Crazy) it is still a really funny movie. Any scene with either of them is already funny, but putting them both together always results in some magic. It's not the best script they've ever had to work with but they still have a lot of funny scenes and like most of their movies it still has a surprising amount of heart underneath all the slapstick type comedy. I highly recommend all their movies and RIP to both of them!

I'm totally suspicious to write about Pryor & Wilder, l love their pictures, probably the best comic duo ever, black and white, con and nice guy, the immoral and the moralistic, they are quite opposite each other, but they complete themselves, although they weren't close friends in real life, Pryor is my favorite black actor for all times, he makes jokes about own skin, fantastic, priceless, unfortuatelly in this especific picture Pryor sounds like looney bi essessive drugs abuse, undermining the offering, Pryor is no longer among us after snort tons of cocaine, nonetheless he still my definitive Hero, this picture just came out officially in Brasil on VHS format only, praying by DVD release!!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1993 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-DVD-R / Rating: 6.25.