Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the casino, along comes the Griswold family from the popular series of National Lampoon's Vacation movies, raising a ruckus in the now family-friendly gambling capitol of the world. Clark (Chevy Chase), the bumbling Griswold patriarch, gets into his usual quota of trouble--especially on a sightseeing trip to the Hoover Dam (where puns on the word "dam" come fast, furious, and idiotic). Meanwhile, Mrs.
It was one of those "something in the air" moments in Hollywood. In the space of a year, four different films came out on the same subject: A kid lands in an adult's body (and, often, vice versa--get it?). The best was Big, but this one was surprisingly amusing, thanks to a goofily adolescent performance by Judge Reinhold (as the kid in an adult's body) and a comically serious one by young Fred Savage, who can convey the sense of an grownup trapped in a kid's world.
If you think special government agent James West is fast with a six-shooter, wait'll he lays a quip on you! Megahit star Will Smith plays West, reuniting with Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld in an effects-loaded, shoot-from-the-lip spectacular. Kevin Kline plays fellow agent and crackerjack inventor Artemus Gordon, teamed with West on a daring assignment: Stop legless Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh) and his diabolical plot for a Disunited States of America. Salma Hayek is mysterious adventuress Rita Escobar.
Blake Edwards's delightful Victor/Victoria may be one of the last of the great, old-style movie musical comedies--it is so good, it was turned into a hit Broadway stage musical years later. And both versions starred Edwards's wife Julie Andrews (the former Mary Poppins) in the title role--as Victor and Victoria. She's a down-and-out singer who hooks up with a flamboyantly gay theatrical veteran (Robert Preston), and together they become the toast of 1934 Paris by dreaming up a provocative nightclub act in which Victoria assumes the identity of a man in drag.
You are cordially invited to fall in love with one of the funniest romantic comedies of the year! It's 1985 and Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) is the ultimate master of ceremonies...until he is left at the altar at his own wedding. Devastated, he becomes a newlywed's worst nightmare - an entertainer who can do nothing but destroy other people's weddings. It's not until he meets a warm-hearted waitress named Julia (Drew Barrymore) that he starts to pick up the pieces of his heart.
Yes, that is Bill Paxton as Ilan Mitchell-Smith's militaristic big brother. And that's Robert Downey Jr. as one of the in-crowd jerks who makes nerds Mitchell-Smith and Hall's lives miserable. Fortunately, this is a John Hughes comedy and our smart nerds create the perfect woman, Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), using a computer and voodoo. Lisa is a willing sex toy, has magical powers, and just wants to help the boys get even and meet nice babes. She even cleans up. The fantasy ebullience of Hughes is given full rein here and that's good and bad (mostly good).
John Candy stars in this John Hughes comedy as an idle, good-natured bachelor who's left in charge of his nephew and nieces during a family crisis. Unaccustomed to suburban life, fun-loving Uncle Buck soon charms his younger relatives Miles and Maizy with his hefty cooking and his new way of doing the laundry. But his carefree style doesn't impress everyone, including Tia (Jean Kelly), his rebellious teenage niece, and Chanice (Amy Madigan), his impatient girlfriend. Uncle Buck is the last person you'd think of to watch the kids.
Cheech & Chong's first cannabis comedy is also their best, a souvenir from the more carefree days before "Just Say No," when people did not feel so defensive about inhaling.
Weekend at Bernie's starts when two lowly clerks at an insurance agency uncover a $2 million fraud and report it to their boss, Bernie (Terry Kiser). Unfortunately for them, Bernie is the one behind the fraud, and he invites them to his island beach house for the weekend, where he intends to have them killed by his mob contacts. Unfortunately for Bernie, the mob decides to rub him out instead--and thus begin the necrotic hijinks. The clerks, Richard (Jonathan Silverman) and Larry (Andrew McCarthy), arrive and discover Bernie's body.
Not only was Barry Levinson's comedy shot in a relatively fast period of 29 days, the satire of politics and show business feels as if it were made yesterday. There's a fresh spin quite evident here, a nervy satire of a presidential crisis and the people who whitewash the facts. The main players are a mysterious Mr. Fix-It (Robert De Niro), veteran Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman), and a White House aide (Anne Heche). Can the president's molesting of a young girl be buried in the two weeks before an election? A war in Albania just might do the trick.
