It took me a while to discover this, but the A.V. Club’s New Cult Canon is a treasure trove! Working my way through these gems got me across a Bill Murray vehicle that I had certainly seen decades ago, but could not remember apart from the make-up of Murray’s bank robbing clown.
That film is quite funny, I have to say! A trio of partly sly, partly sexy and partly inept crooks do the traditional bank robbery getaway thing the way you would want to do it. It gets interesting when they are trying to get out of town, the town that they claim to loathe, but which in all its depravity faces them with so many moments of warm-hearted recognition that you could imagine them cruising New York’s less glitzy neighbourhoods for all eternity and considering this utterly normal.
Bill Murray very much does his Bill Murray routine, and this film being from 1990, this means Murray is at the height of his Bill Murray-ishness (a bit beyond peak, maybe, but enough to work with). Geena Davies and Randy Quaid should not be neglected though, Quaid’s big lunk clumsiness and Davies’ sexy lips at the height of her sexy-lipped-ness makes this an eminently watchable trio infernal, with Jason Robards on their tails.
Not a masterpiece, not an Oscar contender, but the kind of film that you will never regret watching again when it crosses your screen.
thomas4cinema 