ROGER SPOTTISWOODE
Bil’s rating (out of 5): B.
USA, 1992. Northern Lights Entertainment, Universal Pictures. Screenplay by Blake Snyder, William Davies, William Osborne. Cinematography by Frank Tidy. Produced by Michael C. Gross, Joe Medjuck, Ivan Reitman. Music by Alan Silvestri. Production Design by Charles Rosen. Costume Design by Marie France. Film Editing by Mark Conte, Lois Freeman-Fox.
Sylvester Stallone badly wants to break into a comedy career after a decade of Rockys and Rambos, and though he doesn’t have less talent for it than Schwarzenegger, his poor choices prevent the same level of success. In this amazingly limp film, he plays a cop whose love life and career are constantly being thwarted by his overly active, elderly mother (Estelle Getty). At first it seems that mom has only come for a short visit, but soon it becomes clear that just a few days with her will feel like a lifetime. Getty has a good time doing a riff on her Sophia character from The Golden Girls, and Stallone is also pretty game, but the whole thing is so badly written that the laughs are far too few and far between. Anyone who reads the title of this film and sees its cover art should know what they’re getting themselves into when they rent it, so no pity for you if you end up feeling cheated.
