Moving

In this silly, but fun comedy from director Alan Metter(Back To School), Richard Pryor plays an engineer finds what seems to be the perfect job. The only problem is that the job is in Idaho, which means that his family would have to sell their home in Chicago and move out to Idaho. Several disasters occur as Pryor attempts to pack up and move across country, everything that could possibly go wrong does. The film is not exactly a laugh fest, but Pryor keeps the film entertaining with his great comic energy. Dave Thomas and Dana Carvey are fun in supporting roles, as well as Rodney Dangerfield as a gambling loan officer. Overall, a harmless film that benefits greatly from the presence of Pryor. 5.8/10.

One in a string of latter-day disappointments from Richard Pryor, "Moving" suffers most of all from an extremely weak script. It's a hodge-podge of half-baked comic ideas that are rarely taken to their potentially hilarious conclusion. Pryor looks trapped and ill-at-ease as a family man. Randy Quaid has some choice moments as the menacing "neighbor from hell," but Dana Carvey's part as a schizoid who applies to drive Pryor's car to his new location is too brief and under-developed.

There are a few laughs, but you'll more than likely be left wanting more than you'll get here. "Silver Streak," "Stir Crazy," or any of Pryor's concert films have MUCH more laughs than this film here.

In the '80s Richard Pryor jumped the shark with THE TOY, which kicked off a string of forgettable films. Ranging from awful (SUPERMAN III) to merely mediocre (CRITICAL CONDITION), his Reagan-Bush output didn't produce anything decent until he reteamed with Gene Wilder for 1989's SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL (which, granted, was no classic).

MOVING wasn't his worst movie, but it certainly didn't help his career. Playing a meek suburbanite, Pryor's raw comedic persona was castrated with a silly name (Arlo Pear???) and a bland, inoffensive script. Watch him in this movie and note how defeated he appears. In a decade Pryor went from STIR CRAZY and BLUE COLLAR to a feature-length sitcom that could have starred anybody.

That's not to say MOVING is without merits. It provided Dana Carvey with his funniest role that didn't co-star Mike Myers, and Randy Quaid (a good actor who can do comedy as opposed to a good comedian) earns a lot of laughs here in a dual role.

But the efforts of the supporting cast are wasted by a script that should have gone through more re-writes. A comedy about moving your family across the country could find a lot of humor in the small but countless frustrations that can happen when undertaking such a challenge. Instead of wringing laughs from human foibles, here we've got stupid professional movers who do things to be funny, therefore making what they do unfunny. That old guy wrapping every toy separately? The other guys breaking furniture and taking a side trip to New Orleans? It's dumb, and not believable, and not funny. (However, Carvey acts like he's in a whole 'nother--and better--comedy. I gotta admit: his shtick in drag was hilarious.)

The movie has structural problems too. It spends half the movie packing their things and dealing with the slob neighbor, and -- bam! -- it jumps to the family's new home. What happened during the 3000-mile drive to get there? Did the kids get on the parent's nerves while cooped up in the back seat the whole time? Surely there are possible cross-country mishaps that weren't already explored in NAT'L LAMPOON'S VACATION, right?

(One minor thing. What road did they take out of Jersey? They're on some blacktop with a sign stating they're leaving the Garden State. Um, don't they have to cross the Delaware River to enter Pennsylvania?)

And I wonder if a black family from Jersey would assimilate so easily in suburban Idaho. Since anybody could have been cast in the role, was this movie written with Pryor in mind? Doesn't seem so, since this family is white in every way except skin color. Their closest friends are an elderly white couple, and their daughter, played by Stacey Dash, appears to have blue eyes (leading me to believe she should have been cast instead as a Wannabe in Spike Lee's SCHOOL DAZE). Forgive me for raising racial issues in a lightweight '80s comedy, but wouldn't this affluent black family from the East Coast have any reservations about relocating to Aryan Nation? A 1990 census shows that Idaho was over 94% Caucasian while Blacks made up less than one percent around the time the movie was made. (American Indians, at 1.3%, were more represented.) Wouldn't this have been a factor in their decision to move there?

Finally, for a movie that's barely ninety minutes long, MOVING coughs and wheezes to the closing credits. It somehow feels both overlong and too short, if that makes sense. And there's a chase scene to wrap things up. A chase scene to end a bad comedy? What else is new?

This movie is silly as hell, but if you watch it just for laughs it's very good. There are some nice cameo appearances, especially Dana Carvey and Randy Quaid, that make this worth checking out. Don't expect any kind of blockbuster, cause it's not. But for a good laugh be sure and check it.

Moving (1988)

*** (out of 4)

After getting the news that he's been laid off, Arlo Pear (Richard Pryor) must look for another job and finally finds one but it means he'd have to relocate his family from New Jersey to Idaho. At first they don't like the idea but what has to be done is clear so they head up to go West but run into one problem after another.

In my opinion Pryor was the greatest stand up comic in history. There really wasn't anyone better at that R-rated type of humor and he could take perfectly normal situations and turn them into comic gold. His stand up films are some of the greatest out there but sadly his talents really didn't translate to the big screen. His movies were mostly misses, which is too bad considering his talent. I know MOVING isn't technically a "good" film but I must admit that I have a nostalgic thing for it and for the most part it makes me laugh.

Again, if you're expecting a classic comedy or even a well-made one then it's best to not watch this film because it's kind of bland in ways and the direction is certainly lacking. What I do enjoy about the film is that it allows Pryor to play the nice guy that he has been doing throughout his career but they also let him enjoy a R-rating, which is something kind of rare for the actor. He really does a great job here playing the nice and calm guy who keeps having bad things happen to him until he snaps.

Pryor is great here and really works well with the role and there's also some nice support for him. You've got Randy Quaid playing a couple roles and he's a lot of fun as is Dana Carvey in his scenes. Both Beverly Todd and Stacey Dash are good in their roles and there's even a funny cameo by a legendary comedian that I won't ruin. There are some funny moments scattered throughout the film but I think the best moments are when Pryor simply snaps and goes on some foul-mouthed rants.

MOVING isn't a classic film and I'm not sure most people will enjoy it. I do find it to be rather charming in its own way though.