Le casse

This film is really funny. The hilarious ice cream scene kept us laughing for at least a couple of minutes. Woody Harrelson, Alicia Silverstone and Paulo Costanzo are 3 Bank Employees who rob the bank where they work. They all have their own reasons and act separately from one another but each pulls off his own heist on the same weekend. John Cleese is laugh out loud funny as the evil Mr. Merchant. (His infomercial is hysterical.) There is some classic Cleese comedy here. Woody Harrelson had the audience rolling as he struggles to get into Merchant's house. Rachael Leigh Cooks' fantasy sequences are pretty wild. There are a lot of great laughs in this film. Definitely worth seeing.

'Scorched' tries hard to draw laughter from the viewer and it does succeed in parts but overall it doesn't impress. The pacing is too slow and some of the gags fall flat. The comedy surrounding the heist is quite funny and John Cleese, towards the latter part of the movie, is laugh out loud hilarious. The subplot particularly the one surrounding the grudge Harrelson's character holds against Charles is one of the brighter parts of the movie. Woody Harrelson and Paulo Costanzo act well. Alicia Silverstone makes for sizzling eye candy but her performance is not up to marks. Rachel Leigh Cook is miscast. What 'Scorched' also lacks is style. It is set in a remote desert location but it could have used a little more energy boost. In the end, it makes for a decent one-time watch.

Given the cast, and after seeing other comments on IMDb, I chanced it on this one, and it was well worth my money. I frequently burst out laughing. Undoubtedly the funniest bits are the extremely varied ways in which Woody Harrelson's character messes up - occasionally predictable, but well acted slapstick at its best. John Cleese was middling, best at the end, while the opening sequence has a splendid running gag and a marvellous outbreak by Alicia Silverstone. Perhaps Rachael Leigh Cook's and Paulo Costanzo's talents are underused, and the actor who played George Sr. in Arrested Development makes only a guest appearance. I hope there will be more good writing like this from Joe Wein.

It's too bad this isn't more recognized. It's quite funny, and there are golden moments herein. This has plenty of characters... some might say too many, though I would say that a fitting amount of time is spent on them. They are all strange types, and in general this has a lot of that vibe, and, again, there are those who will argue that it goes overboard. The acting is pretty solid, Costanzo is excellent. It may not be the most demanding as far as performances go. The plot is well-written, and certainly never lost my interest. The pacing is fairly even. This has a couple of impeccable surprises. The music is cool. The majority of the jokes and gags work, however, it can cause a loud and reverberating crash when the others fall flat. The DVD of this that I have... R2, if that makes any difference... holds no features. There is rather little language, but it's as strong as it comes. There is no violence, if a bit of the physical comedy can come off as disturbing. Sex goes no further than minor dialog and eye-candy. I recommend this to any fan of anyone involved in creating it. Just be sure that you do not let yourself be exposed to any quirk for a while before watching this, or you may OD on it. 6/10

"Scorched" is a silly comedy romp about the antics of a motley bunch of unrelated people in a small desert community who plan to rob the same bank about the same time on the same morning of the same day. On the upside, the film offers a good good cast, plenty of familiar faces, and gets busy and stays busy with slapstick and wackiness all the way to the end. On the downside, it offers no big budget bennies and only squeaks by with a marginal no-brainer screenplay. Watchable though barely recommendable, "Scordhced" isn't a film the players are going to be proud to have on their resumes but should be an enjoyable watch for the less than sophisticated comedy palate, comedy junkies, fans of the players, etc. (B-)