Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" is the slick eighties comedy starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine. The plot revolves around two con-men fighting over the same territory, the French Riviera. The script brings out the absolute best from both actors. In fact, the two make such an amazing comic duo, that I honestly think it's a shame that they haven't worked together since. Caine especially gives an amazing performance. He's become so widely known for his work in drama that I don't think many people know just how hilarious he can truly be, check out this film and also, "Without A Clue" for confirmation.

One of the reasons why this film is still a stand-out is due to the directing talents of Frank Oz. Oz is the puppeteer and voice behind Yoda from the Star Wars franchise, as well as many of the Muppets, including Miss Piggy. But few know that he is also an accomplished actor and film director. Some of his best films have been, "Little Shop of Horrors", "The Dark Crystal", the very underrated "Housesitter", and the unsung classic, "What About Bob?". If Frank Oz is involved in a film, you should at least give it a chance, even if it doesn't turn out to be one of your favorites. He has a great sense of timing and excellent choices in scripts.

There's a lot to love about this movie, it works almost as a series of vignettes. Unlike most movies, this film has almost no lulls. It's just set up, joke, set up, joke, over and over again. It also works as an escapist film; it's what my old film teacher would call, a "caviar comedy". This means that we focus on high society and people with money to burn. It's something of a thrill seeing all these beautiful locations. It really gives you a break for a couple of hours from all your money woes. If you like Cary Grant movies, I honestly think that you'll like this film, as it plays off of the same type of formula. It does feel like an "old" movie at time, and I mean that in a good way.

The movie flows from one scene to the next completely effortlessly, sometimes aided by the chipper violin music of Jerry Goodman. There are also several excellent actors rounding out the cast. Glen Headly gives a surprisingly sweet performance as the con-men's mark. Anton Rodgers and Ian McDiarmad (also of Star Wars fame) add some especially dry humor and play very well off of both leading men. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but sometimes it also takes a village to make a great film.

Unlike many other eighties comedies, this film does not focus on gross-out humor, with the exception of the hilarious "Ruprect the Monkey Boy" sequence. This is a true classic comedy, and also just so happens to be an eighties film, but not so much in the traditional pop culture sense of the word. Just in the sense that it happened to be released in 1988. I highly suggest you buy this one for your home library. It's worth multiple viewings.

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