Pure Luck (1991)

This Martin Short gem is probably my favorite movie of his (aside from the Father of the Bride series) and it seems to be so undervalued. I loved this movie way back then and I love it now. So many bad things happen to him during this hilarious and irreverent movie and even after all my many, many viewings, I still seem to eagerly anticipate all his misfortunes. The way he just takes all his many "accidents" in stride is what I love about it. And Danny Glover's horrified fascination is also priceless and perfectly played. It skips a lot of the clichés, isn't too obvious, and is largely situational - if anything can go wrong, it will. Martin is a naive hothead who delivers physical comedy with style, and Glover is a hard-boiled P.I.-cum-babysitter who just can't believe this is all happening to him. I don't know the circumstances that led Danny Elfman to only compose the main titles and ending selection for this soundtrack, but his compositions are quite fun. Definitely a switch from his dark stuff, it hearkens back to his Oingo Boingo days, with a twist of Caribbean."Pure Luck" is a hilarious comedy, with Martin Short and Danny Glover at their best! There is some language, but mild on the scale these days. You'd think with all of today's technology they'd give us a button to turn that stuff off if we wanted to. Anyway, not too much to worry about with this movie, just laugh!!! My favorite scene is where Martin short attempts to use karate on Danny Glover and winds up landing in a .... well you'll just have to watch to find out where he lands. This is without a doubt, one of the funniest movies of the 80's.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Valerie Highsmith (Sheila Kelley) is the bumbling daughter of a wealthy businessman on vacation in Mexico. Purse snatchers leave her on the streets with amnesia. Small time con man Frank Grimes comes along and takes her hostage. Her father sends investigator Raymond Campanella (Danny Glover) but he has no luck. Because of her bad luck, her father is convinced to send the equally bad luck accountant Eugene Proctor (Martin Short) to follow Valerie and partnered with Campanella.This is adapted from a French movie and I have yet to laugh at a French comedy. Some of that is the language difference but I also think the French aren't that funny. This should work better with Short as the wacky funny man and Glover as the straight man. Short has his moments and Glover's best comedic partner remains Mel Gibson. The comedy is very broad and very limited. It's pretty stupid but not stupidly funny. Worst of all, the investigation isn't that compelling. Seeing Valerie doing similarly stupid things could make the concept work better. It may also work better if Eugene is an idiot but he's not really written as such. He could also be resigned to the bad luck. I'm not sure if Eugene is calibrated correctly.

Martin Short and Danny Glover star in PURE LUCK, and the title plus Short should be a tipoff as to the quality of this obvious tax writeoff. Investigator Glover is assigned to find a missing heiress in Mexico and Short is sent along as someone who shares the heiress' constant state of bad luck (running into doors, falling down, etc.). Somehow this is supposed to mean Short will be able to find the lady, who has been kidnapped. I can't imagine anyone sitting through this inept, unfunny flick in a theater. I couldn't finish it on TV. Short has fallen a long, long way from his INNERSPACE days, and Glover simply looks embarrassed. He also mumbles most of his dialog. PURE LUCK makes THE MAN, with Eugene Levy and Sam Jackson playing similar roles, look like CITIZEN KANE. It is fair to say Short's auburn-dyed, permed hairdo in PURE LUCK outperforms Short at every turn. Avoid at all costs.

"Pure "Luck" is based on a rather silly plot which is in turn based on quite a silly idea. After the disappearance of his amazingly clumsy daughter, 'Mr. Big' decides to enlist the services of an equally clumsy employee, in the hope that he may 'slip on that same banana peel', and find her.While Nadia Tass' direction (in her American feature film debut) appears rather hurried, "Pure Luck" benefits from the very funny Martin Short, the good teaming of Short and Danny Glover, and some hilarious one-off scenes. Hardly outrageous cinema, "Pure Luck" is still enjoyable however.Friday, December 20, 1991