Wanna briefly talk about my One Pointer, 1998's
The Impostors.
Stanley Tucci wrote, directed
and starred in it. It's a love letter to classic slapstick comedy and acting in general, but it's not the boring kind of homage where it just references or namechecks stuff and relies on your romanticism about past films to land: it's
genuinely funny, and
genuinely clever. It holds together as an irresistible farce even if you have little to no appreciation for all the things it's honoring.
It's also silly in a very grown-up way, in a
The Princess Bride sort of way. You get the sense Tucci was just saving up ideas and one-liners for years and years before finally unloading all of them at once. And the cast is insane, which makes me think he called in a lot of favors, too: Tucci, Oliver Platt, Alfred Molina, Steve Buscemi, Lili Taylor, Tony Shalhoub, Allison Janney, Richard Jenkins, Isabella Rossellini, Campbell Scott (maybe the funniest character in the whole film), Billy Connolly, and Hope Davis. And they all get to make a delicious meal out of every ridiculous role.
It's one of the most endearing and charming films I've ever seen, and it's criminally underwatched, even in a place like this.
I'm the
only person on the site to review it so far, and one of just two people to check it off as "Seen" (though that's a newer feature). I hope both of those things chance, because it's a hidden gem.