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The out-of-towners

Threat advisory: Guarded - General risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

They fell in love 24 years ago... and in the next 24 hours, they'll remember why.

When a Mid-Western USA couple flee their empty nest and head for the Big Apple, a comic odyssey of unexpected calamities yanks them through the most bizarre 24 hours of their lives. Living in the unexpected, they take chances, go with the flow and ultimately find themselves - and each other. At the end of the day, they discover that sometimes there is nothing so right as when everything goes wrong.

The out-of-towners reunites Academy Award-nominee Steve Martin and Academy Award-winner Goldie Hawn as Henry and Nancy Clark, a couple whose passion got filed somewhere between mortgage payments and university loans for the kids. When Henry goes to New York for an important job interview, the itinerary for the Clarks is clear: groom Henry for success and rediscover the spark their marriage once held.

What starts out as a predictable business trip turns into a riotous series of mishaps that weaves through Central Park, Greenwich Village, Times Square, the Fulton Fish Market and ultimately soars completely out of control when the overwhelmed couple arrive at a luxurious hotel. It is here they meet Mersault (John Cleese), an imperious, aristocratic hotel manager who becomes hilariously caught up in Nancy and Henry's mid-life crisis.

Also starring Mark McKinney as Greg the east coast agent and Oliver Hudson (Goldie's real life son - woo hoo! Nepotism!) as Alan. Based on the original film starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis made from a screenplay by Neil Simon.

Cinematic intelligence sources

Studios and distributors:

Paramount Pictures

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

A zany, wacky, roller coaster ride of wild and romantic misadventure that will have you rolling in the aisles and falling in love all over again! And if that doesn't put you off, nothing will.

The out-of-towners is a remake of a film which was poured out of a conservative middle-American studio mould back in the 50s. Did you notice the R word? Remake? Someone thought that this story was worthy of a remake?

*Sighs*

I have often wondered just how Hollywood chooses the films it makes. I have formulated a theory that there is a Big Industry Checklist that everyone uses to guarantee an economically and artistically successful film. Some of the items to check a potential script for are:

Are there zany bits?
Are there wacky bits?
Are there parts which famous actors can do without having to actually act?
Is it set in New York?
Is there a happy ending?
Can we add a funny man who wears dresses?

And, so that no-one can accuse them of not moving with the times, the Checklist Review Committee has added more items for the 90s:

Can we put a mobile phone in?
Can we put a therapy group in?
Can someone have sex?
Can someone be sexually dysfunctional?

*Sighs*

But wait, there's more... this film was so badly made that there are shots with the microphone dipping into frame (inexcusable in a world with CGI), misaligned dubbing, continuity errors, lighting continuity errors, props errors...

Oh, there's no point saying any more, I will only get upset that someone threw millions of dollars away on this movie which could have gone to starving millions, third world nations, the homeless, the sick or even - the goddess forbid - a new jacuzzi for the chief executive.

Tired old baby boomers who are sick of their boring middle-class, white-bread world may find this amusing, but I was bored, insulted and offended.