Rented Lips

Very under rated movie. Lots of undercurrents in it. At a PBS station, there is a background speaker announcement saying, "Mr. Sagan, your lights are on." There were several versions of this movie. I saw it on cable and it was very good. Several years later, I rented it and the rental version was much changed from the cable version. I was very disappointed in the rental version, only later realized that several scenes were either missing or changed, and not for the better. Perhaps that's why there are such divergent views on this movie.

This happens quite often and many people are not aware there are several versions of movies. HBO and some of the other movie channels make sure to get the released version, but sometimes there is more than one released version.

I saw Rented Lips only cause it was on Robert Downey's list of movies that he appeared in. It is definitely not Downey's best. This movie is so rare to find! I saw this movie with a Russian voice over. This is one the strangest Downey movies. I wonder what made him choose this! A little too difficult to sit through even for a hard core Downey fan.

All said, there are a few genuinely fun moments. However this is not enough to mitigate the disastrous pace of the movie. The story seems so disjointed that you get a feeling that this is some in-house production for fun.

Martin Mull and Dick Shawn act as documentary makers who get the chance to make their dream picture, but this has a hitch. They also have to make a porno movie, and then have to protect it from a fanatical clergyman. The humor is a little crass. Downey Jr has some of the best scenes as the porno movie's star with a volatile ego.

This film is so weird, but it does have its "Moments"..although very few in between such long dull stretches. Kenneth Mars, and Downey have a few good moments,as well as Dick Shawn. I could not believe June Lockhart was in this mess, but she was slumming.But the entire movie as a whole is a waste of time.. The plot is great. A Nazi porno movie, but it went so wrong. I think a better director/writer could have had a field day with this premise, but Martin Mull is a minor talent one his small level. A bizarre film and end/swan song to a great talent like Dick Shawn. He deserved better.But in way, he was a really different type of talent, so there you go.

a command performance from every star involved; this movie presents a fine, enjoyable, and quite entertaining jaunt through mull's exquisite grasp of subtle intellectual humor easily on par with his f.m., the TV show, and white people, and an easy constituent of the jerk, this is spinal tap, and clue. truly one of the pioneering mocumentaries (though this is a film about them rather than in the actual mocumentary genre.)

reiner, mckean, and mull's early productions tend to blend in humor aspects, writing style, and occasionally cast and are pinnacles in the industry of b movies. this collaboration is one of the prime pictures showing the American's loose grasp of dry, non-laugh tracked humor, that so many British television seems to have left us straggling behind in the dust. any b- movie aficionado would be proud to watch and subsequently force upon every person they cared deeply about.

i mean really, a musical nazi porno . . . what's not to nervously laugh at?

I had been looking for this for a while, because I am a huge fan of Robert Downey Jr. When I purchased it in a thrift store the other day and watched it last night, I knew why it was rare and out-of-print. I only got through the first twenty minutes before I had to stop it and ask myself why I had even sat through that much. It's absolutely disgusting and poorly acted (though if you've seen any of Robert Downey Sr's other movies this doesn't seem strange). Plus, it was written by Martin Mull, who isn't that great of an actor (he was pretty bad on "Sabrina The Teenage Witch").

It is kind of cool to own this movie because of it's rarity, but as much as I love Robert Downey Jr, I can't bring myself to finish watching this. If you're a fan as well, avoid this movie. You have been warned.