This movie is the standard David Mamet formula in a fun, small-town comedy. It’s sufficiently interesting and fairly funny, but best of all it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Holiday by way of The Spanish Prisoner.
Setting: Small Town Drama
Plot: Comedy of Errors
Tone: Slow-burn Comedy
This is one of those strange sleeper films that was too zany for audiences at the time but has gathered a strong cult following over the years. The humor is a screwball satire of dry comedy, an acquired taste to say the least. The superhero genre has exploded in the two decades since this movie came out and since its story is not an irreverent deconstruction of the genre but an underdog riff that embraces it, it’s only become more relevant over time. On the other hand, its low-fidelity special effects and distinctly ‘90s directorial style have kept it firmly planted in the past, making it both ahead of its time and stuck in the past. It’s an oddball that equal parts great and weird.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Boys (2019) by way of Zoolander.
Setting: Cyberpunk
Plot: Super Hero
Tone: Dumb Comedy
This is one of the overlooked classics of the Heist/Con genre, and deservedly so. The acting and writing is stylized and feels almost more like a play than a film, but this is intentional and precise. Ricky Jay and David Mamet craft ingenious misdirections as what the audience knows about the story twists and turns, and for my money it’s Steve Martin’s best serious role. The flaws amount to one or two minor points that seem more unlikely than they needed to be by the end, and the saying of acting that will turn some people off. But it’s the details of plot and the poetry of the dialog that makes this movie so good and if you like heist movies but haven’t seen it, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
