Watch Sunburn For Free

One of my all time favorites.

I wanted to but couldn't!

As Good As It Gets

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

"It's so bad, it's good." Farrah Fawcett has never looked better. And, maybe you have to like Charles Grodin's humor. He's like Albert Brooks, Jim Carey, or even Woody Allen, you either "get them" or you don't. I saw this as a comedy not an action flick. If you see it as a serious drama or action film you'll find all kinds of flaws including horrible acting by the insurance company's board of directors. But this seemed necessary in order to have Grodin "assigned" to investigate the death of the insured. Grodin is the "clueless" investigator. He is the anti-hero, he stumbles his way through everything with Farrah Fawcett there to rescue him. I guess I wouldn't mind stumbling around a bit if Farrah Fawcett were there to rescue me. Art Carney adds a wonderful "serious" performance as the local contact. It's harmless and funny, even endearing at times. I thoroughly enjoyed it even though it was "bad".

I actually bought the VHS of this movie strictly in order to watch Farrah's (alas, all-too-brief) scuba scene about one-third through. (I hope there is a DVD in the works; the VHS of this scene is rather grainy.) Watching her swim in that French-cut white shorty is a treat for any guy, especially a diver like myself. Also, for aficionados of "only-in-a-Hollywood-movie" moments, it belongs right up there.Farrah signs up for a scuba diving class so she can surreptitiously board a suspicious yacht anchored in Acapulco Bay. After donning the jaw-dropping wet suit, we see her hoisting her tank onto her back by herself. Hey, all I can say is, if that were any scuba group that I have ever been a part of - and an unaccompanied woman built like her showed up wearing THAT wet suit - the guys would be tripping over each other to say, "Let ME give you a hand with that, ma'am, and by the way, do you need a dive buddy?" Which leads to the next problem. Once underwater, Farrah manages to slip away unseen from the rest of the group in order to swim to the aforesaid yacht. Like I said, riiiiggght.....With every male eye in the group fastened on her, the chances of that happening are somewhere south of zero.Only in Hollywood, of course. Memo to Farrah: being undercover means NOT calling attention to yourself. Next time, wear an ill-fitting black wetsuit, or better yet, a full dry-suit. Nobody will give you a second look.

A forgettable easygoing romp in the rich tourist section of Mexico, this movie was hamstrung from the beginning with its insurance scam plot - not an exciting prospect. Grodin is the maverick investigator whom the head of the insurance company wants on the job even though he caused them some problems in the past. Grodin plays this sort of slack jawed throughout, to the point of annoyance. Farrah joins up as his make believe wife. This was Farrah in her prime, just post the silly Angels TV show and before she got into serious actress mode. It's her middle film in the 'S' trio - all of which bombed. She & Grodin are incompatible, in more ways than one, and the fact she does end up in bed with him feeds the fantasies of many a middle-aged males. Art Carney's a private eye employed by Grodin; he brings in the usual feisty old man humor. Joan Collins shows up as a rich, horny wife. A lot of the scenes are plain stupid, such as Grodin dressing up in a night prowler outfit for no reason, other than to appear stupid. But, since all of this takes place in hot weather, Farrah usually wears something skimpy. There's also a fairly exciting car chase in the last third, including a run-in with a bull - some of those shots looked very realistic, to the detriment of the bull.

Based on Stanley Ellin's not-bad mystery novel "The Bind", "Sunburn" became Farrah Fawcett's second attempt to resurrect her TV golden-touch at the movies (it drove her back to television after one more try, the sci-fi bomb "Saturn 3"). It has amusing fashions and disco music, a pleasant ambiance at the outset, lots of sand and sunshine, but a script that becomes murky early on. There are too many sub-plots and incidental characters here (such as Joan Collins in an indescribable bit). The central relationship between insurance investigator Charles Grodin and model Fawcett (posing as his wife) is curious but unsatisfying, and Art Carney has very little to do as a gumshoe. Not a disaster by any means, and '70s aficionados will soak up the clichés, but it's easy to see why "Sunburn" never attained much of a following: it's a commercial for Acapulco--not a movie. *1/2 from ****