Find the Lady

Before John Candy was really famous, he starred in this rather silly Canadian movie about a series of kidnappings. He plays police officer Kopek, investigating the kidnappings and getting into a bunch of loopy situations along the way. The only other cast member whom I recognized was Mickey Rooney, playing a trigger-happy hit-man named Trigger (although apparently, Peter Cook also starred).

Overall, "Find the Lady" is nothing special, mostly a series of gags, but it's pretty fun, especially the end scene. I guess that you could say that it backs up what Michael Moore always says: Canada is the greatest place on earth.

Like the one it spun-off from, it's not good... but it is slightly better.

'It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time' is rubbish, though 'Find the Lady' is a tiny bit of an improvement - emphasis on the world tiny. I like the cast in this one a tad more, obviously John Candy but also Lawrence Dane, Dick Emery and Mickey Rooney are also alright.

It's mainly the poor attempt at comedy and the story itself that is damaging to this 1976 film. I personally didn't find any part definitively funny, though I will say I did chuckle once or twice - one being when the bad guys are in the back of a truck trailer and Dane's character knocks on it... it's stupid, but it got a reaction out of me I can't lie.

I'll preface my comments by saying that my wife and I are big fans of John Candy. And although Find the Lady is no Uncle Buck or Planes Trains and Automobiles, it is a treat to recognize many of his classic mannerisms. John plays a young bumbling "Gumshoe" investigating a kidnapping case with a more seasoned partner.

Mickey Rooney is another treat in this movie. I guess perhaps he needed the work to keep up with his alimony obligations? He didn't phone it in here, he puts a lot into his character. And his running comments about working with mobster Bugsy Siegel put a smile of my face.

While it's not the most memorable movie for Mr. Candy it is fun to see him in an earlier role before he became a star.

Seeing John Candy on the video cover might give you a sense this movie would be a hilarious comedy, but it isn't the case for this one. This is an early acting appearance for Candy, who plays a bumbling detective named Kopek who, along with partner Broom (Lawrence Dane) tries to solve a complicated kidnapping case involving a businessman's daughter. These two characters reprise their roles from It Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time, released the previous year, though their screen time was somewhat limited.

The casting is appropriate, though, confusing: Peter Cook, Mickey Rooney, and Dick Emery as the bad guys and plenty of product placement for the Canadian pizza chain Pizza Pizza. There's not too many laugh-out-loud moments in this film, aside from a few instances of physical slapstick, especially the first ten minutes of the film, but it's, at least, watchable.

This amiably scattershot British-Canadian Co-production sadly remains one of future comedy icon, John Candy's lesser known features. The chaotically pratfall-laden, proto-Police Academy, bungled kidnapping farce 'Find The Lady' is brought to witheringly noisome life by a remarkably ecclectic cast of entertainingly larger-than-life Thespians: Peter Cook, Mickey Rooney, Lawrence Dane, Alexandra Bastedo, Dick Emery, and a very young, effortlessly likeable, John Candy is a dunderheaded delight as the catastrophically inept, perpetually blundering cop, Kopek!

John Trent's overblown screwball comedy is an energetic, frequently misfiring, palpably unsophisticated 70s celluloid curiosity, and some may well find themselves immune to this gaudy lady's crudely comedic charms, but, to be fair, I sporadically enjoyed all the unrelentingly stupid slapstick shenanigans displayed so giddily herein! Peter Cook is miscast, the splendid, Dick Emery is sadly underused, Alexandra Bastedo is a distractingly beautiful kidnapee, and, frankly, it's all very, VERY silly indeed, but the hyperbolic, slapstick-on-acid finale in the fun house is arguably worth the price of admittance alone! As much as I hate to admit it, Mickey Rooney was a hoot as the anachronistic hood 'Trigger', and charismatic Canadian actor, Richard Monette, glistered no less gaudily than his sequinned bustier as serially quipping drag artiste, Bruce la Rousse.