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Wild Oats
Despite the presence of two of the best actresses in the business in the starring roles, the 2016 comic adventure Wild Oats starts off promisingly but eventually dissolves into logic-defying silliness not worthy of the stars.
Shirley MacLaine plays Eva Fenton, a widow who receives the insurance check from her husband's death, which is supposed to be $50,000, but it turns out to be $5,000,000 instead. After attempts to return the money to the insurance company are of no avail, Eva decides to take her best friend, Maddie (Jessica Lange) on a lavish vacation in the Canary Islands. Of course, the insurance company sends an agent (Howard Hesseman) to drag Eva back to the states while she gets involved with a charming con artist (Billy Connolly) and Maddie finds romance with a recently dumped man (Jay Hayden) half her age.
This movie actually gets off to a very funny start. The scenes at Eva's husband's funeral have just the right touch of black comedy and the scene of Eva and Maddie trying to get a live operator on the phone at the insurance company had me on the floor. Sadly, once the ladies get to the islands, the story gets sillier and sillier as everyone in the Canary Islands seems to be on to the fact that Eva has a lot of money and she actually gets involved with some allegedly dangerous criminals who are more stupid than dangerous. Basically, what we have here is Golden Girls meets Thelma and Louise and our stars our just too old for this kind of slapstick.
Director Andy Tennant (Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama) has been afforded a huge budget for this mess. The movie features elaborate international scenery and first rate production design, but none of this disguises the fact that this movie is just much to do about nothing. Billy Connolly exudes a modicum of charm pretending to be John Cleese and the long-absent-from-the-screen Howard Hesseman is a lot of fun as the insurance agent. And let's not forget Demi Moore, cast against type as MacLaine's persnickety daughter, but staying invested with this one was a bit of a chore.
Despite the presence of two of the best actresses in the business in the starring roles, the 2016 comic adventure Wild Oats starts off promisingly but eventually dissolves into logic-defying silliness not worthy of the stars.
Shirley MacLaine plays Eva Fenton, a widow who receives the insurance check from her husband's death, which is supposed to be $50,000, but it turns out to be $5,000,000 instead. After attempts to return the money to the insurance company are of no avail, Eva decides to take her best friend, Maddie (Jessica Lange) on a lavish vacation in the Canary Islands. Of course, the insurance company sends an agent (Howard Hesseman) to drag Eva back to the states while she gets involved with a charming con artist (Billy Connolly) and Maddie finds romance with a recently dumped man (Jay Hayden) half her age.
This movie actually gets off to a very funny start. The scenes at Eva's husband's funeral have just the right touch of black comedy and the scene of Eva and Maddie trying to get a live operator on the phone at the insurance company had me on the floor. Sadly, once the ladies get to the islands, the story gets sillier and sillier as everyone in the Canary Islands seems to be on to the fact that Eva has a lot of money and she actually gets involved with some allegedly dangerous criminals who are more stupid than dangerous. Basically, what we have here is Golden Girls meets Thelma and Louise and our stars our just too old for this kind of slapstick.
Director Andy Tennant (Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama) has been afforded a huge budget for this mess. The movie features elaborate international scenery and first rate production design, but none of this disguises the fact that this movie is just much to do about nothing. Billy Connolly exudes a modicum of charm pretending to be John Cleese and the long-absent-from-the-screen Howard Hesseman is a lot of fun as the insurance agent. And let's not forget Demi Moore, cast against type as MacLaine's persnickety daughter, but staying invested with this one was a bit of a chore.