Down and Out in Beverly Hills

Rating:
Summary: Bedrooms Farce
Review: A juicy comedy on the sexual foibles of the rich, that doesn't take itself too seriously. Made by the just deceased (2000) Paul Bartel (Eating Raoul), and obviously inspired by Paul Mazursky's (who plays a cameo role) own 1986 comedy, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, itself a remake of Jean Renoir's 1932 farce, Boudu Saved from Drowning. Jacqueline Bisset heads a motley crew of a cast. Much of the film's charm is due to Stanley Myers' (The Deer Hunter) excellent score, especially his "bed rondo."

Rating:
Summary: Bedrooms Farce
Review: A juicy comedy on the sexual foibles of the rich, that doesn't take itself too seriously. Made by the just deceased (2000) Paul Bartel (Eating Raoul), and obviously inspired by Paul Mazursky's (who plays a cameo role) own 1986 comedy, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, itself a remake of Jean Renoir's 1932 farce, Boudu Saved from Drowning. Jacqueline Bisset heads a motley crew of a cast. Much of the film's charm is due to Stanley Myers' (The Deer Hunter) excellent score, especially his "bed rondo."

Rating:
Summary: A Must See Comedy
Review: After more than 15 years, this comedy still elicits huge laughs and the primary reason for that is it's sharp. It bites. No comedy can last through the years without some noticeable degree of sharp social irreverence built into it. It just can't be done. And this comedy is nothing if not irreverent.

Based on the '30s French farce Boudu Saved from Drowning, the American director Paul Mazursky does a terrific job of fusing stinging satire with mock pathos as Nick Nolte's street bum Jerry, having lost the last thing important to him--his dog--decides to end it once and for all. Stumbling into the upper crustean Beverly Hills, he manages to locate a swimming pool at whose bottom he decides to meet his maker. The pool, as it happens, belongs to Richard Dreyfuss' Dave Whiteman, a very wealthy wire hanger mogul, and his daffy wife played by Bette Midler.

Dave's maid, the always fetching Elizabeth Pena, is playing hanky-panky with Dave, yet Dave is not without a heart. He catches sight of Jerry right after his plunge and rescues him, and the rest, as they say, is hysterical.

Everybody, as it happens, winds up loving Jerry--Dave's wife, Dave's maid, Dave's dog, Dave's son, and Dave's daughter. And even Dave himself. What 'love' means here depends on who is doing the loving. Dave's neighbor is Little Richard who can't help but toss in a couple of his songs here and there, which adds to the romp that is this film. Jerry manages to teach just about everybody a thing or two about life--even the dog learns how to eat regular dog food from him.

These days, as the rich get slightly--but not a lot--less rich, and the poor definitely get poorer, it's refreshing to see a comedy that irreverently laces into both. This really refers to class under attack here, and that word has more than one meaning. Social class, what we think of as class (as in 'a class act'), and what we learn from each other (it's Jerry who leads the class--he's the real teacher here) all get the treatment.

A great satire well worth watching, if not owning. Don't miss.

Rating:
Summary: Still great
Review: After more than 15 years, this comedy still elicits huge laughs and the primary reason for that is it's sharp. It bites. No comedy can last through the years without some noticeable degree of sharp social irreverence built into it. It just can't be done. And this comedy is nothing if not irreverent.

Based on the '30s French farce Boudu Saved from Drowning, the American director Paul Mazursky does a terrific job of fusing stinging satire with mock pathos as Nick Nolte's street bum Jerry, having lost the last thing important to him--his dog--decides to end it once and for all. Stumbling into the upper crustean Beverly Hills, he manages to locate a swimming pool at whose bottom he decides to meet his maker. The pool, as it happens, belongs to Richard Dreyfuss' Dave Whiteman, a very wealthy wire hanger mogul, and his daffy wife played by Bette Midler.

Dave's maid, the always fetching Elizabeth Pena, is playing hanky-panky with Dave, yet Dave is not without a heart. He catches sight of Jerry right after his plunge and rescues him, and the rest, as they say, is hysterical.

Everybody, as it happens, winds up loving Jerry--Dave's wife, Dave's maid, Dave's dog, Dave's son, and Dave's daughter. And even Dave himself. What 'love' means here depends on who is doing the loving. Dave's neighbor is Little Richard who can't help but toss in a couple of his songs here and there, which adds to the romp that is this film. Jerry manages to teach just about everybody a thing or two about life--even the dog learns how to eat regular dog food from him.

These days, as the rich get slightly--but not a lot--less rich, and the poor definitely get poorer, it's refreshing to see a comedy that irreverently laces into both. This really refers to class under attack here, and that word has more than one meaning. Social class, what we think of as class (as in 'a class act'), and what we learn from each other (it's Jerry who leads the class--he's the real teacher here) all get the treatment.

A great satire well worth watching, if not owning. Don't miss.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Take a Georgian's Word For It...This Film is Great!
Review: Although it apparently is not understood in Tybee Island, GA, this is a great movie. Nolte gives a top-notch performance, as does Dreyfuss. And every time Little Richard appears on screen, it is sure to be a very funny scene. Pound-for-pound, one of the best movies of the 80's.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent comedy with Great Performances.
Review: An rich couple (Oscar-Winner:Richard Dryfuss & Bette Milder) are semingly happy couple living in Beverly Hills. An smart con man & also a bum named Jerry (Nick Notle) trys to kill himself in the couple swining pool. Then Dave (Dryfuss) has unexpected friendship with Jerry. Dave's family are taking the liking of Jerry. But Dave become jealous of Jerry likeness towards people and he's changing people lives.

This film has great comic performances by Notle, Dryfuss & Milder. Directed by Paul Mazursky, dialogue is funny & the sytle is great. An terrific comedy has become a classic. Grade:A.

Rating:
Summary: Good comedy which should have been great
Review: Based upon "Boudu Saved From Drowning", this flick also reflects other works such as Moliere's "Tartuffe", maybe even a bit of "The Rainmaker". As such, it's got a solid basis upon which to build a movie.
What is presented is a mildly amusing soft-hearted satire of contemporary life among the rich who spend more time self-analyzing than most people working. Richard Dreyfuss is fine as the suddenly successful manufacturer and Bette Midler is perfect as the suddenly rich spouse trying to put too many pieces together at the same time. Nick Nolte is the "down and out" (?) visitor who is saved from drowning in their swimming pool. He immediately becomes all things to all the neurotics involved. It's an obvious plotline which follows.
In a scene seemingly derived from Mazursky's earlier "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!", the madness culminates in a big party. Next door neighbor Little Richard, as the decidedly flambouyant Orvis Goodnight, gets down on piano and rocks out on the uptemo "Great Gosh A'Mighty" [a successful single for LR in '86, by the way]. It's a fun scene, but it's shot too much like a video and the music is not up front. Richard does a nice job in an earlier scene which does not involve music. He appears suddenly in Dreyfuss' backyard, raving about the kind of emergency help available for whites as opposed to blacks. The racial overtones seem dated here, as they do in scenes with Nolte and the domestic help.
The movie has an under-developed air about it, like Mazursky's "The Pickle" and the above mentioned "...Alice B. Toklas". The viewer wants to be challenged into deciding if the suicide attempt was a put-on by Nolte so as to hang with rick folks for a while. You might want to fire up the treadmill or vacuum while this tape rolls.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best comedies ever made
Review: Despondent over the loss of his dog, Jerry the bum is rescued from an attempted suicide in the swimming pool of a wealthy Beverly Hills businessman, Dave Whitman, and subsequently teaches Whitman to eat garbage, cures the neurotic dog, seduces Whiteman's ungreencarded maid, new-aged-gurued wife, and anorexic daughter, gives the gay son permission to come out of the closet, destroys Whitman's New Year party, teaches the whole family to walk on hot coals and ruins the garden by urinating on the flowers. All of this and a good deal more, produces continuous laughter.

Rating:
Summary: A Fine Piece
Review: Dubbed as the comeback for the three starring actors, this movie is rather laidback and allows the stars to easily do their best and make the movie work. Nick Nolte easily plays the bum who is taken in and cleaned up by the rich family and who is a charmer. Richard Dreyfuss plays the rich man who takes Nolte in and he does a good job with many funny scenes. Bette kinda steals the show as the rich, stuck up wife who is rather standoffish as she seems as if she's better than others in her own mind. The supporting cast which includes Little Richard, a dog, and others help to make the movie work well as they support everyone else with a nice chemistry throughout. THe movie also works because it is both funny and touching at the same time. Good Job!!

Rating:
Summary: Don't see it
Review: I don't care what Siskel and Ebert say on the front of the box. To say such good things about this movie, they must have been not with it or something. I believe that this film was a great idea and could have been wonderful, but Nolte had to ruin it. He was great in 48 Hours, Another 48 Hours, New York Stories, I Love Trouble, and 3 Fugitives, but what is he doing in this film? Like I said before, don't listen to anything anyone tells you...this film is CRAP!