Getting Away with Murder (1996)

Dan Ayrkoyd, looking boxy and well-scrubbed, plays a college professor in Massachusetts who is caught up in the media frenzy surrounding elderly German neighbor Jack Lemmon, who has been accused of being a notorious Nazi war criminal living under an assumed identity; when Lemmon tells Aykroyd he intends to leave the country in protest, Aykroyd plots to poison him as a form of historical justice. Writer-director Harvey Miller probably intended this dark-hued comedy to be a twisted hoot, in the "Eating Raoul" vein. He apparently gained the trust of his talented performers--and comedy vet Penny Marshall was swayed enough to co-produce--but something must have gotten lost in the translation from screenplay to film, because there are hardly any laughs in this scenario. The cast plays it poker-faced...perhaps they weren't sure just how over-the-top the presentation should be. Results are curiously lukewarm, and full of dumb jokes like one involving Lemmon's dog being attracted to Aykroyd's crotch--which Miller then repeats, as a TV director might. *1/2 from ****

The line between comedy and drama is thin and sharp in Getting Away With Murder. This film could easily have been a serious drama about a crisis of conscience.While watching poor Dan Aykroyd deal with his oh so overdeveloped sense of ethics I was reminded of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Do you remember in that film how at the political convention for statehood how James Stewart left and confessed how his conscience was in agony over the shooting of Liberty Valance. To which John Wayne properly replied, "you talk too much, think too much" and after that heart to heart talk Stewart goes back and starts his political career.All I could think of was that Ethics professor Aykroyd needed a good conversation with the Duke. He's contacted by the FBI who tells him that the kindly old German neighbor just might be a fugitive Nazi war criminal.Aykroyd realizes that American due process could leave Lemmon around for years so any man of conscience would just kill this guy. Which he resolves to do. Lemmon does die in this, but more I can't and won't say in this rather whacked out comedy which turns on Aykroyd's exquisite conscience. He so needed John Wayne to tell him he thought too much.Lily Tomlin brings her own brand of zaniness into the film as Lemmon's daughter. Still Getting Away With Murder will never rank in the most noted of either Jack Lemmon or Dan Aykroyd comedies.It was asking the audience to think too much.

Despite having a cast that included Dan Aykroyd, Jack Lemmon, Lily Tomlin, and Bonnie Hunt, Savoy Pictures barely released "Getting Away With Murder" to theaters. Watching it, I think I can see why. With the movie centering around someone accused of being a Nazi war criminal - and being a comedy - a more sure hand was needed to make this subject material palatable. As it is, the movie is too soft, when it needed to be more biting, like how the Mel Brooks movie "The Producers" was with its own Nazi material. But there are other problems than just with a wrong tone. Long stretches of the movie go by without any attempts at humor. There are several moments when scenes appear to be missing, though at the same time the movie also feels stretched out when its telling should have been tighter. I admit I kept watching to see how things would be wrapped up, but the movie cops out in this area as well, leading to a final moment that will have you saying, "That's IT?!?" out loud. If you do watch this movie, see if you can figure out why this was given an "R" rating - the movie really feels more like a PG-13 or even a PG movie.

This is a rather mild and forgettable comedy, but I think it deserves a **1/2 rating, if only because it dares to deal with some ambiguous subjects (like vigilantism) without become overly moralizing. The viewer is allowed to think (or not think, if he does not wish to) for himself. It's not a funny movie, I'll grant you that, and Jack Lemmon is thoroughly wasted, but it's an interesting one nonetheless.