THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS (1983) **1/2 The entire first hour is an incessant barrage of really stupid sexual jokes. Sexual humour can be very funny but, believe me, this stuff is S-T-U-P-I-D. It would take a lot to attain any momentum thereafter and, given that, they do a pretty decent job. Once Steve Martin turns his attention from genitals to brains things liven up a bit, and there are several truly inspired sequences. The laboratory scenes, for example, couldn't have been exectued nearly as well by anyone else, or the love scene in the boat; but my favorite is the entire Elevator Killer send-up--absolute Martinism for the ages. There was probably an element of overconfidence given that Martin and Carl Reiner were coming off the historic triumph of Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, or maybe they're just smart enough to know that you don't catch lightning in a jar twice. Whichever the case, nearly the entire first half of the film is spent feeling the same sense of embarassment for Martin that you might feel for a speaker at a formal engagement with marinara sauce spilled down his front; and much of the second half wishing that they would have brought back Rachel Ward to play the Kathleen Turner character. Not that Turner is too bad-she isn't the problem-but she only accentuates the film's weaknesses by herself being a bit too pompous, raunchy without redemptive qualities, and never delivering on the comedic promise that she makes us believe is possible. David Warner and Paul Benedict are better, but they just don't have the lines to make much of a difference.
back to Brilliant Observations on 1776 Films home
go back home, or send me email
no more reviews! I want to buy your novel!