Art La Flamme

That, my friends, is the face of Down & Out in Beverly Hills. Nick Nolte, actor and probably-rich guy, picked up for DUI in 2002.

Even the mightiest have their issues.

Fitting, I suppose.

In this movie, Nolte plays a down on his luck homeless guy. Being homeless is one thing; having your dog leave you is another.

To end it all, he sneaks into the backyard of the Whiteman residence, loads his pockets with rocks, and jumps in the pool. His dumb luck is that Dave (Richard Dreyfus) sees him jump in, and goes in after him to save him.

From there, he more or less joins the Whiteman family. And he helps them all find themselves. I suppose the lesson is that, underneath it all, you just have you, and when you physically have nothing, you really just have you. Through time, they all see something in him, and they all find themselves through him. Which was necessary, since they were all pretty neurotic and nuts. He even teaches the dog a few tricks. He has a kind of wisdom.

It’s a pretty harmless comedy — it’s from Disney, after all. It also marks the comeback for Richard Dreyfus, after his cocaine addiction had more or less taken over his life.

Forgive me if I get a bit nostalgic this week, as I finish out my summer of movies effort.

Today was our last graded event. I have my last brief. Well, I gave it twice, but still, it’s done.

I settled in tonight with Ruthless People, a classic black comedy from the god-awful 80′s. 1986, to be exact. The era of leggings and spandex skirts, of big hair and Miami Vice. And the 80′s — the high point in Zucker Brothers films — Airplane, Top Secret, Naked Gun, and all that good stuff coming to a pinnacle in American high society.

Pretty good cast — Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater. Not outstanding, but pretty good. DeVito and Midler play a rich wealthy couple far from being in love, Midler as the daughter of the big boss, and DeVito as the little sh*t who marries her to get ahead in business, only to really gain nothing. Reinhold and Slater play a couple down on their luck and desperate, who kidnap Midler to demand a ransom – that DeVito doesn’t want to pay. He’s rather they go ahead and kill her.

Though dated and basking in the glory of 80′s fashion, it’s really funny. This is a watch-once-a-year kind of movie. Good story, good plot, good twists, good jokes — but the real treasure is in the fashion.

I may be in a rut. There’s this pattern emerging — a see a good movie, and then I see a bad movie.

This is a bad movie.

I did not think it was possible to find a bad Jack Black movie, but I have. Nacho Libre just isn’t a good movie, as much as I want it to be. Never has been, never will be.

OK, Shallow Hal was pretty bad. But it was really bad.

Black plays Ignacio, a monk who loves wrestling and really doesn’t like being a monk. He wants to be a luchador — a great wrestling performer. After a turn of events, he teams up with Steve, aka The Skeleton, to become Nacho, a masked wrestler. As a team, they are horrible, but they do make money just for participating.

And with the money, Ignacio can buy fresh food for his day job as the cook at the orphanage at the monastery. it’s better than nothing, but it’s still not what Ignacio wants out of life. He wants more. He wants to be a famous wrestler and, well, he also wants the nun that has started to teach at the orphanage. He’s in loooooooove.

With time, he wrestles more, they wrestle more, and they fare better.

It’s not all horrible. The midgets are funny. The crazy love life of The Skeleton is pretty funny. And the movie is rich in the culture of Mexico’s wrestling, which is pretty awesome.

But really, you can skip this. If you’re a hard core Jack Black fan, OK, see it. But everyone else — skip it.

Here’s something I can’t remember doing:? I saw Step Brothers on opening day.

Guess I’ve been overseas for too long.

We had class off post Friday, and when it was wrapping up, one of the other guys said he was headed over to the theater to see the movie.? Me and another guy decided to tag along.

And I probably shouldn’t say this with my outside voice, but it was awesome.? The previews included an R-rated preview for Tropic Thunder, which was hysterical (trailer, promo).

But the movie.? Oh man.? Will Ferrell.? That other guy from those other Will Ferrell movies.? And it’s awesome.

Why?? Because three time I found myself laughing so hard I could not breath.? One of which was a fart joke.? And it was not a movie for kids.? Not in the least.? It doesn’t even pretend to be, not with the sheer volume of cursing in this thing.

This movie is stupid.? Juvenile.? Idiotic.? And crammed full of humor.? Crammed.? Everything is either a joke or a set up to a joke, and not a long set up at that.

Will everyone like it?? Dunno.? Doubt it.? But I’d go see it again tomorrow in a heartbeat.

Preview, here.? And that’s a preview with a lot of cursing, too.

I think we watch Robin Williams like we watch car accidents.? We want to see the gas tank explode.? We want to see someone rushing in to start using the jaws of life.? Will the driver take off across the median, running, bleeding and on fire?? We want excitement and chaos and things that don’t happen every day.

We want to see and know and have confirmed that Robin Williams can’t not be funny.? Sure, we know that he makes serious movies from time to time, but that’s different.? In a comedy, we want to see unbridled hilarity from the man.

Which is what makes this movie hard to advocate. He’s funny, and then he’s not.

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