Plano de Risco

Stars: Natassja Kinski, Billy Zane, Lara Flynn Boyle, Rob Schnieder, Michael Bien, Dan Aykroyd, Thomas Hayden Church and Joey Travolta.

This was a genuinely funny movie with great performances. It's a kill the husband get the money plotted film, but John Landis's script is surprisingly fresh. I'll start with the actors. Dan Aykroyd was my favorite performer as the humorless gangster. His lack of humor in the film is actually the funniest part of it. Schnieder and Bien are good as the two buddies in the film. Lara Flynn Boyle is hilarious as the slutty hairdresser. Now my problem with the film was the horrible ending. The plot felt so unresolved and it ended on such a horrible note that it ruined the rest of the film for me.

My rating: ** out of ****. 86 mins. rated R for Sex/Nudity, Gory Violence and Language.

I can't really say that this was a good movie, as much as I'd like to say so, but some of the performances in the film are pretty funny. I think Michael Biehn is terrific and he is easily the best character in the film. I also think Rob Schneider and Billy Zane give good supporting performances. Some of the gags are hilarious, but this Landis film can't compare to most of the stuff he's done in the past.

We picked up the DVD and thought, "Hey, with a cast like this and with John Landis directing, it's got to be worth at least a look. I mean, Landis did 'Blues Brothers', didn't he?" I also need to point out that we are big Dan Ackroyd fans and will watch, at least once, anything the man puts on film. Man, were we disappointed.

Rather than beat a dead horse, we'll just throw a few adjectives and phrases your direction: disjointed, bad editing, failing jokes (the fart jokes were the funniest, if this gives you an idea), no closure, redundant, unnecessary and distracting segues, gratuitous sex scenes (although Lara Flynn Boyles is very appealing, just not enough screen time to make it interesting!).

We watched this movie and braved the hour and a half hoping it would get better and that the cacophony of subplots would somehow congeal into a cohesive crescendo. Not happening. Just got worse and left us feeling like we wasted the popcorn.

Do not rent this movie. If you need a Dan Ackroyd fix, just rent "Grosse Pointe Blank" or even "Ghostbusters." And if you need a Rob Schneider fix, I understand 'Deuce Bigalow' was 'Citizen Kane' compared to this fine piece of...art.

I rented this movie becuase Michael Biehn was in it, and found it surprisingly good. Biehn, in his first comedic role, really shines. He brings an interesting airheadedness to the role which is a fun change to his usual mega-serious roles in other films. However, the film is also filled with humorous portayls by Lara Flynn Bolye, Nastassja Kinski and Billy Zane. Rob Schneider, Thomas Haden Church and Adrian Paul also give semi-funny performences, and Dan Akroyd plays a barely believable, but funny role as "Bob". The plot is very cliched and rather normal, but the film is very funny and the charecters interesting to watch. It was a very pleasent surprise, this film. Highly reccomended to fans of Biehn, Kinski, Boyle or just fans of good comedies.

This movie was one of the most disjointed, strange, contrived, hard-to-follow (and not really worth the effort) movies I've ever seen. There were so many holes. For example, we are told that Adrian Paul's character was bad and we're supposed to believe his death would not be a tremendous loss. But why? We have no idea why he "deserves to die" other than the fact that his ex-wife stands to gain a lot of money (of which she has plenty, anyway)! And if I had to see one more scene of gratuitous sex, I think I may have become violently ill.

This supposedly is a comedy. Ha, ha. It's more like a strange hallucination without the prerequisite of medication. Many scenes seem completely pointless, and many others seem to be designed solely because somebody promised somebody that he/she could be in the movie and a minor cameo had to be created. (Example: Michael Biehn's character's cousin. If anyone can explain why that character was necessary, I'll give him/her a dollar -- and that's nearly one-fourth of the total amount I wasted renting this movie!)

It will be a very cold day in a notoriously hot place before I feel compelled to waste a couple of hours on this one again.