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A Major Disappointment

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Excellent black comedy from the eighties with DeVito and Bete Midler as always are funny,the plot is perfect,the supporting casting is quite good in special way the stupid Bill Pullman and the hampered Judge Reinhold, therefore the main character is heart of the picture Devito as disguised and Midler angry screaming....all the situation is funny especially when the tape is sent to chief of police who is actually the guy with prostitute in the car...all kind of misunderstanding build this movie,the soundtrack fit at the eighties all them made by computer and finally Zucker brothers and Abrahams have a great job really!!

The movie is a great 80's comedy about a rich man's wife being kidnapped by people he betrayed right when he wants her to be gone and who are not very good in doing it.It doesn't even start slowly. The first scene is a dialogue of Sam (Danny DeVito) and his mistress Carol (Anita Morris) where he passionately describes how much he hates his wife and how he wants to kill her so she suffers. Danny DeVito is great in this scene, as through the whole movie. He does a great job playing the bad guy and his character seems to have so much (evil) energy and strength.Other characters are also very well selected and played. There are moments where it seems that Bette Midler is overplaying it, but considering that the movie is to some point a farce comedy it doesn't seem to be too out of line. As well it gives her character the craziness that makes her a bit scary and yet lovely. The kidnapping couple (Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater) are greatly created characters, they are so kind and nice that one just has to root for them and feel for them. They are so not made to be evil that their failings in it bring us a lot of amusement. To make it a bit more complicated throw in the mistress I mentioned before and her dumb lover (a great career start for Bill Pullman) who have their own shenanigans planned and the movie gets even more complicated and hilarious. One basically laughs at every scene and the 90 minutes pass by very quick.Sure, it is predictable most of the time, but it sure doesn't ruin the movie that is mainly made to make us laugh and truly accomplishes it both with plot related and the side jokes. I loved the movie when I first saw it (must have been in the 90's) and it still didn't lose it's humor for me 3 decades after it's release.It is actually funny that back in the days it was promoted as crude, adult humor and now it seems to be so innocent. Times sure have changed the average comedy.

Businessman Sam Stone does not like his wife Barbara; he only married her for her money and as the film opens he is telling his mistress Carol that he is going to kill Barbara. When he gets home he is ready to do the deed; the problem is there is no sign of her. The phone then rings… it turns out that Barbara has been kidnapped and the kidnappers want half a million dollars and total secrecy if he is to see her alive. He can't believe his luck and informs the police and media then waits for the kidnappers to keep their promise. It doesn't work out as planned though as the kidnappers aren't the ruthless people they claim to be; they just want the money they think Stone owes them after he stole their idea and made a fortune. In a secondary plot Carol decides to blackmail Sam by filming him dumping the body; of course there is no body but Carol's stupid partner films a couple's rather noisy love making and thinks he is witnessing a murder… Sam enjoys the tape but the police chief doesn't as he is the man in it! As the film progresses the kidnappers lower their demands and Barbara uses her captivity as an opportunity to get fit.The actresses' hairdos may place this film firmly in the eighties but the film hasn't dated. Danny DeVito is great as the poisonous Stone; a character who is as odious as he is hilarious. Bette Midler is equally good as his wife; one can see why he wants her dead as she starts off as unpleasant as him. Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater are both on good form as bumbling kidnappers Ken and Sandy Kessler… the most likable of the protagonists. The laughs are plentiful and the story is entertaining; it is definitely worth watching and although there are a few slightly adult moments it doesn't descend into crudeness.

Before a fortune seeker can carry out his plot to murder his wife, she is kidnapped, leading to hilarious complications. The cast is terrific: Reinhold and Slater as the likable kidnappers, DeVito as the scoundrel of a husband refusing to pay the ransom, Morris as DeVito's double-crossing mistress, and Pullman as the latter's dim-witted boyfriend, "the stupidest person on the face of the earth." However, Midler steals the film as the obnoxious kidnap victim. The "Airplane!" team of Abrahams and Zuckers is in peak form, working with a more clever script than for that earlier hit. It's a breezy mixture of verbal and physical comedy.