A jewel thief steals a sacred ruby which sets off a chase by the police, the Turkish government, nutty Armenian terrorists, and the C.I.A.A jewel thief steals a sacred ruby which sets off a chase by the police, the Turkish government, nutty Armenian terrorists, and the C.I.A.A jewel thief steals a sacred ruby which sets off a chase by the police, the Turkish government, nutty Armenian terrorists, and the C.I.A.
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Post Production can get boring at times, and a lot of very dull and incompetent programming gets produced and sent through Post Houses, like the one I worked at. But this movie, even being a solid "B" flick: starts, gets moving, does it's best with what it has, and wraps up decently (as far as stories go).
From what I remember, this movie doesn't pretend to be anything but entertaining; and while other movies do that better than this one, this is a movie that can entertain you if your bored and can watch a jewel thief movie without being critical about clichés. You can tell that the producers knew how much they could get from this budget and story and I don't think this crew could've done better. Chris Lambert, Chris Lloyd, and JT Walsh... good combo, and I think they pull it off as best it could be done.
Why Me? sort of falls between two stools: it's not shoulder-dislocatingly funny either by intention or by good old-fashioned ineptitude, which makes watching it a bit of a pointless exercise. The old jewel-thieves-in-over-their-heads caper has been done to death, and the combination of Christophers Lambert and Lloyd provides the film with a distinct reek of B-list. Neither are wacky enough to be engaging for very long: Lloyd's clearly only there for the money, and you get the impression that Lambert's actually toning down his natural dementia. He's one of the most charismatic actors around, but it's just not given the chance to shine through here. (Only one "heh heh heh" as well. Or perhaps there were more during the times I fell asleep.)
So then, Why Me?: brief moments of promise amidst the sadly overwhelming boredom and confusion. No wonder nobody's ever heard of it.
Did you know
- TriviaIn the movie J. T. Walsh's Chief Inspector's name is spelled and pronounced "Mahoney", but in the original Westlake novel it is spelled "Malogna" but pronounced "Maloney".
- GoofsNo explanation is given as to when or how Gus, Bruno and June were able to set up the between-towers rope-and-pulleys system to exchange the Byzantine Fire for the bag of money; it seems to have already been in place when the trio arrive at the towers.
- Quotes
Bob the Turk: I warn you, do not make me do something that I would not do, unless someone made me do it because they didn't do something someone told them to do.
Gus Cardinale: Don't worry Bob, I would never do something to make someone do something to someone, because that someone didn't do something that someone wanted them to do.
Bob the Turk: I'm glad we understand each other.
Gus Cardinale: ...Me too.
- ConnectionsFeatures La Nuit des masques (1978)
- How long is Why Me??Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $83,882
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $49,933
- Apr 22, 1990
- Gross worldwide
- $83,882
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1