Last Resort

First and foremost most if not all the background actors were fairly fresh, Phil Hartman and Jon Lovitz hadn't been on SNL yet, Mario Van Peebles was still an extra. The real only headliner was Charles Grodin. This movie takes many viewings to properly get into the spirit of things. I've watched it several times usually followed up with Club Paradise and Club Dread.

Aptly named waste of time & celluloid is 'National Lampoon's Vacation' minus the setups, punchlines, structure, & any likable characters. Flat, dumb, & cheaply-made, I weep for Ashton, Hartman, & Mullally, but especially Grodin.

#nitrosMovieChallenge.

The only thing good about this movie is the poster.

That's the thing that reels you in because the artist actually invested some time on it.

The actual movie is horrid on levels that are just insulting.

The only way this film was made was to be a money laundering scheme.

Nothing in this movie works to any degree.

Story wise, this is just miserable - even though there is a great cast, the plot has nothing to it.

I assume money laundering is big business in films - because so many films which would never pass in reality are made - even though like this one, they are made truly horrible.

There's no spoilers because there's nothing to spoil...the movie was spoiled from the very beginning and lasted to the very end.

Last Resort features a capable comic cast but it really makes the sesnses whirl at times. It starts off as a family comedy and then starts throwing in lots of sex-oriented humor along with some real lame jokes and offensive stereotypes. One gets the feeling they sort of made up the story as they went along. It does have some laughs and some surprises but don't expect any sort of coherent story line. Chances are the better known cast members aren't too proud of this one.

All of the dialog was dubbed by Hartman and Markowitz in a marathon 24-hour looping session. Because of budgetary restrictions, they shot the entire film without sound and the two comics dubbed everything later. No, this is probably not in the stack of films Grodin plays in his DVD as he gets nostalgic.

While that trivia doesn't make the film a totally enjoyable experience, it's a better rental than "Riding the Bus with My Sister". Markowitz has some new films in production that look outstanding. He has directed his energies toward writing and producing, and is a brilliant force in the business.