Trading Places with Mel Brooks humour...a combination that should have worked.
Continuing with my Mel Brooks film season, I recently viewed his 1991 movie Life Stinks. A film that involves corporate wealth, outright poverty, crime, greed, and redemption, all within a ten square mile radius.
When two financial giants meet to discuss buying the others land around the slums of L.A., a wager is proposed, whereby, if Goddard Bolt (Mel Brooks), one of the most wealthiest men in America, can survive for thirty days as an anonymous, broke homeless man on the very streets he seeks to buy, then his rival, Vance Crasswell (Jeffrey Tambor) will give his half for free. Should he fail, then Bolt must relinquish his half.
Bolt is confident that his success in the business world will translate well into the gutter of American society, and his ignorance is soon punished. He is chased, beaten, robbed, and demoralised in a number of ways, all humorous. It is only when he teams up with slightly crazy Molly (Lesley Ann Warren), and a couple of other homeless guys, that he manages to endure the difficulties of the street. However, as he comes to grips with his challenge, Craswell is plotting behind Bolt's back, and the struggle between good and evil, and rich and poor become entwined.
A funny film, but one that promised more. I was expecting more laugh out loud moments, and a more coherent storyline. The plot is well devised, but its execution seems mediocre. An average Brooks film, but failing to deliver a script worthy of a comedy classic, and characters that are instantly forgettable.
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