| Reviewer Roundup |
| 1. |
 | Susan Granger |
| review follows |
| no stars |
| 2. |
| Harvey Karten |
| read the review |
| --- |
|
Review by Susan Granger
0 stars out of 4
"Screwed" sneaked into our local theaters without advance
screenings for critics - and screwed is how you'll feel if you
inadvertently pay at the ticket counter. Stand-up comic Norm Macdonald
plays Willard Fillmore, a mild-mannered servant who works for nasty
Virginia Crock, a wealthy Pittsburgh bakery owner played by Elaine
Stritch. Understandably bitter - since he has to scrub her dentures
along with her toilets and cars - and egged on by his best buddy, Dave
Chappelle, he decides to kidnap her beloved, yappy, mean-tempered lap
dog for $1 million ransom and flee to the Caribbean. But, of course,
their contrived, chaotic plan backfires. None of this is funny -
particularly Danny DeVito as a creepy, degenerate coroner. And Norm
Macdonald is amazingly inept; he cannot act - period. Written by
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski before "Ed Wood," "The People
vs. Larry Flynt," and "Man on the Moon," it serves as their
directorial debut. Perhaps that's understandable since they also
collaborated on the sloppy scripting of "Problem Child." On the
Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Screwed" is a wretched, idiotic
1. Hard to believe, but it's worse than "Battlefield Earth."
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
|
