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#217 - Quick Change
Howard Franklin and Bill Murray, 1990
A trio of bank robbers successfully pull off a big heist but their getaway plan is hindered by all sorts of obstacles.
To me, Quick Change could've been great. Bill Murray deadpanning his way through a delightfully absurd caper comedy where he flawlessly executes a bank robbery only to be confounded at every turn while trying to escape from New York sounds extremely promising and there are several instances where it makes good on that promise. Of course, the film as a whole has enough issues that stop me thinking too much more of it. The entire first act involving Murray's bank job is an enjoyable sequence as he trades barbs with Jason Robards' crusty senior detective and I might have been fine with seeing an entire film play out entirely within the bank. While seeing Murray and his accomplices (Geena Davis and Randy Quaid) spend the rest of the film running into trouble on the way to the airport still has plenty of comic potential, its success is decidedly sporadic. It's not helped by Quaid, whose presence almost single-handedly sinks the film for me. I can understand the film's need for a gormless fool to serve as an appropriately comedic foil to Murray's smartly sardonic schemer, but Quaid's tendency to gurn and wail his way through many scenes just grates on me more often than not. The fact that the film plays up his character's status as a man-child for Murray and Davis to take care of suggests that he is not entirely to blame for his character being insufferable. At least Davis can hold her own in her role as a sharp-witted love interest. A variety of recognisable actors (Phil Hartman! Stanley Tucci! Tony Shalhoub!) help to make this decidedly episodic comedy work as everything from acidic one-liners to painful pratfalls (and even the odd moment of dramatic tension or surrealism) works in service of the film's comedy, albeit in a rather inconsistent manner.
Howard Franklin and Bill Murray, 1990
A trio of bank robbers successfully pull off a big heist but their getaway plan is hindered by all sorts of obstacles.
To me, Quick Change could've been great. Bill Murray deadpanning his way through a delightfully absurd caper comedy where he flawlessly executes a bank robbery only to be confounded at every turn while trying to escape from New York sounds extremely promising and there are several instances where it makes good on that promise. Of course, the film as a whole has enough issues that stop me thinking too much more of it. The entire first act involving Murray's bank job is an enjoyable sequence as he trades barbs with Jason Robards' crusty senior detective and I might have been fine with seeing an entire film play out entirely within the bank. While seeing Murray and his accomplices (Geena Davis and Randy Quaid) spend the rest of the film running into trouble on the way to the airport still has plenty of comic potential, its success is decidedly sporadic. It's not helped by Quaid, whose presence almost single-handedly sinks the film for me. I can understand the film's need for a gormless fool to serve as an appropriately comedic foil to Murray's smartly sardonic schemer, but Quaid's tendency to gurn and wail his way through many scenes just grates on me more often than not. The fact that the film plays up his character's status as a man-child for Murray and Davis to take care of suggests that he is not entirely to blame for his character being insufferable. At least Davis can hold her own in her role as a sharp-witted love interest. A variety of recognisable actors (Phil Hartman! Stanley Tucci! Tony Shalhoub!) help to make this decidedly episodic comedy work as everything from acidic one-liners to painful pratfalls (and even the odd moment of dramatic tension or surrealism) works in service of the film's comedy, albeit in a rather inconsistent manner.