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See No Evil Hear No Evil
The late Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were teamed onscreen for the third time in a forgettable 1989 comedy called See NO Evil Hear No Evil, which is basically a one-joke movie stretched over an hour and 45 minutes, that makes for a pretty tiresome moviegoing.
Wilder's Dave and Pryor's Wally work together at a newsstand where a woman murders a man in her pursuit of a rare gold coin, which we later learn is worth $8,000,000. When the police arrive to question Dave and Wally about the murder, they are unable to get a complete description of the woman because Wally is blind and Dave is deaf. Dave only glimpsed her legs as she was fleeing the scene and Wally was only able to smell her. The woman and her partner learn that there were witnesses to the murder and even though they were blind and deaf, the still feel they can't take any chances and decide that Dave and Wally have to be silenced.
Amazingly, it took five writers, Wilder included, to come up with this convoluted story based on a single comic premise that is set up in detailed fashion in the opening scenes. In the opening scene we witness Wilder almost get run over by truck because he doesn't hear the approach and Pryor actually escorting another blind man across the street. These scenes are amusing, even if they run on a little longer than need be. There's also a scene at a medical conference with Pryor pretending to be a Swedish doctor that reminded me a little too much of a similar scene in Mel Brooks' High Anxiety.
Unfortunately, continuity becomes an issue as the film progresses as we witness both characters doing things they really shouldn't be able to do. This is particularly obvious with Wilder's Dave, legitimizing a lot of what he gets away with by giving the character the ability to read lips, which doesn't cover the scope of a lot of what Dave does here, though he is pretty convincing not reacting to loud noises like gunshots and alarms. I did love the final confrontation between Pryor and Anthony Zerbe's Sutherland, who was also blind.
The problems with the film never really get in the way of the chemistry between the stars which is still there and the respect that they had for each other as performers shines through in every scene. Sadly, they just don't have a vehicle worthy of their talent this time. Joan Severance is a rather bland villainness but future Oscar winner Kevin Spacey is a lot of fun as her accomplice. Veteran character actress Audrie Neenan is very funny as a cop trying to take a mug shot of Wilder and provides some of the sporadic laughs here. What a shame.
The late Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were teamed onscreen for the third time in a forgettable 1989 comedy called See NO Evil Hear No Evil, which is basically a one-joke movie stretched over an hour and 45 minutes, that makes for a pretty tiresome moviegoing.
Wilder's Dave and Pryor's Wally work together at a newsstand where a woman murders a man in her pursuit of a rare gold coin, which we later learn is worth $8,000,000. When the police arrive to question Dave and Wally about the murder, they are unable to get a complete description of the woman because Wally is blind and Dave is deaf. Dave only glimpsed her legs as she was fleeing the scene and Wally was only able to smell her. The woman and her partner learn that there were witnesses to the murder and even though they were blind and deaf, the still feel they can't take any chances and decide that Dave and Wally have to be silenced.
Amazingly, it took five writers, Wilder included, to come up with this convoluted story based on a single comic premise that is set up in detailed fashion in the opening scenes. In the opening scene we witness Wilder almost get run over by truck because he doesn't hear the approach and Pryor actually escorting another blind man across the street. These scenes are amusing, even if they run on a little longer than need be. There's also a scene at a medical conference with Pryor pretending to be a Swedish doctor that reminded me a little too much of a similar scene in Mel Brooks' High Anxiety.
Unfortunately, continuity becomes an issue as the film progresses as we witness both characters doing things they really shouldn't be able to do. This is particularly obvious with Wilder's Dave, legitimizing a lot of what he gets away with by giving the character the ability to read lips, which doesn't cover the scope of a lot of what Dave does here, though he is pretty convincing not reacting to loud noises like gunshots and alarms. I did love the final confrontation between Pryor and Anthony Zerbe's Sutherland, who was also blind.
The problems with the film never really get in the way of the chemistry between the stars which is still there and the respect that they had for each other as performers shines through in every scene. Sadly, they just don't have a vehicle worthy of their talent this time. Joan Severance is a rather bland villainness but future Oscar winner Kevin Spacey is a lot of fun as her accomplice. Veteran character actress Audrie Neenan is very funny as a cop trying to take a mug shot of Wilder and provides some of the sporadic laughs here. What a shame.