Bill Murray captured the whimsical hostility of New York in his underseen directorial debut
Film Features Recommends
Watch This offers movie recommendations inspired by new releases, premieres, current events, or occasionally just our own inscrutable whims. This week: With the release of Andy Samberg’s Palm Springs and the latest Ghostbusters sequel getting pushed to 2021, we’re highlighting movies starring Saturday Night Live alumni.
Quick Change (1990)
Bill Murray became a household name performing on New York City’s signature late-night comedy series. Ten years after leaving Saturday Night Live, he made his only movie so far as co-director, a comedy of errors about an extended and desperate attempt to leave the hellish nightmare that is New York. If that wasn’t enough career-related subtext, Murray opens Quick Change dressed as a clown who, when asked, describes himself as the “crying on the inside” kind.
Grimm (Murray) dons the clown get-up as part of a genuinely clever bank robbery, the last (and only) big score for this disgruntled city planner, his girlfriend Phyllis (Geena Davis), and his faithful sidekick Loomis (Randy Quaid). Their getaway plan is stymied by the very place they’re attempting to escape, as New York throws muggings, poorly marked streets, and unyielding bus drivers in their way. One of the obstacles is played by Murray’s fellow SNL alum Phil Hartman, in a movie version of the crucial “glue” roles he handled so well on the show. As a Village-to-Brooklyn transplant ready to pull a gun to defend his overpriced one-bedroom, he’s one of many bit players shining opposite Murray, who performs in a register best described as whimsically hostile. Usually when a comedy star looks tired in a vehicle, it’s a sign of struggle. Here it’s just Murray mastering his persona, getting big laughs from his minimalist approach.
He also masters the art of the tightly directed 89-minute comedy, working with co-director and screenwriter Howard Franklin. After the opening bank-robbery setpiece, which manages to be both funny and convincing, the movie settles into a series of vignette-style misadventures, none of which overstay their welcome. Franklin and Murray cut their scenes together expertly, refusing to let a funny gesture or reaction shot go to waste; there are plenty of good Bill Murray comedies, but this one feels particularly attuned to his rhythms as a performer, both deadpan and daft. The levelheaded Davis and zanier Quaid both fall into sync with him, even if Davis has to deal with a dead-end subplot addressing her character’s doubts about keeping up with Grimm now that he’s a big-shot bank robber. (This despite the fact that he is plainly eager to enjoy his cleverness from an airplane, flying far away to a life of leisure.)
Viewers watching Quick Change 30 years later might reasonably brace for outdated ideas about New York as a crime-ridden cesspool and nasty stereotyping of the city’s melting pot. In that sense, its stressful comic situations are also a relief: While the movie is about a trio of white people fleeing the city and there are a handful of cheap jokes involving an ethnically ambiguous cab driver (Tony Shalhoub!) who apparently speaks not a single word of English, the filmmakers mostly take an egalitarian approach to the hindrances Grimm’s gang must face. (And the gun-toting exceptions are also white.) Most of the walk-on characters are simply going about their version of a New York routine, which naturally appears inscrutable or maddening to anyone working at cross purposes. This is a movie with deep understanding of the fact that New York will always have multiple people screaming from the back of various vehicles—and that most of them have their reasons.
The geography may no longer be strictly accurate (New Yorkers will spot some formerly desolate-looking Brooklyn locations that have since swung all the way toward gentrification) and the 30-years-later crime rate is much lower. But Quick Change still feels like New York—a cinematic feat that relatively few SNL vets have managed. (“I love this town!” exhortations aside, even the Ghostbusters movies feel a little touristy.) Murray, ever the Chicagoan, probably felt some sort of kinship with Grimm’s loathing for his hometown. It’s equally easy to detect a sneaky form of affection, sitting alongside it inseparably.
Availability: Quick Change is available to rent and/or purchase from Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, YouTube, Fandango, Microsoft, Redbox, and VUDU, despite being an unsung catch-it-on-HBO classic.
160 Comments
My husband is teaching himself Spanish during lockdown, and each and every day as he listens to his audio training I cry out, more than once, “FLORES!! FLORES PARA LOS MUERTOS!!”
One of my favorite bits is the unexplained, inexplicable bicycle joust.
“Aww, man, it’s bad luck just seeing something like that!”
That is the moment of the movie that makes me giggle every time I think of it.
YES! I use this reply all the time. Works in so many situations.
My go to line is “you could’ve given us help, but you’ve given us so much more”
That is the line I silently quote to myself whenever I come upon a WTF situation.
I love that there’s a priest overseeing the whole thing, and the way he throws the loser’s bike down in disgust.
Pretty sure they cover that in the very first lesson!
There must be a lot of competition for that corner.
“What does that mean, Grimm? ‘Flores por las murdos?’”
“I’m sure I don’t know.”
“Come on, you know, Grimm, it means Flowers for the Dead.”
“OOOOHHHH GOD!!!”
Nude Women!! Nude Women!! Clowns Welcome!! Clowns welcome!!
“And a blowjob!”
“Dis ain’t my dick in your back!”
“…That’s a relief.”
“Well, he does have Iowa plates… (comes back to the window) Where was the Clutter family from?”
(Immediately) “Kansas!”
I watched this a couple of years ago for the first time since the early ‘90s, and it was as enjoyable as I’d remembered. Definitely an underrated entry in Murray’s catalog.
“What About Bob” is always good fun too.
Baby steps.
Yep, I watched that one a couple of months ago, with my kids, and they liked it a lot. What other underappreciated pre-career-resurgence Murray vehicles are there? Scrooged? I make a point to watch it every Christmas, and it isn’t perfect, but I’ll be damned if the scene with the homeless people and Murray’s bizarre Richard Burton impression isn’t one of my favorite things ever committed to film.One I’ve never seen is The Razor’s Edge. I remember it being kind of controversial at the time it came out because funny-guy Murray dared to take on a straight dramatic role, and I remember lukewarm critical reaction to it, but I’d like to see it. I’ve never seen the original, either, so I at least don’t have to worry about it paling in comparison.
Scrooged rules. I don’t know if it’s underappreciated per se, but we can never appreciate Kingpin and Murray’s performance enough. And Mad Dog and Glory has some issues but Murray is great in it, another rare villainous performance that really uses his size well (it also has De Niro and That Guy Hall of Famer Mike Starr). And on the other side of things, I really enjoy the dopiness of The Man Who Knew Too Little, it is very silly and would utterly fall apart if Murray’s clueless performance was just a bit off, but he nails it. Murray’s 90s are right there with his 80s, I think.
One of the things I love about Mad Dog and Glory is that if you told me, blind going in, that there was a movie about a poor schlub who saves a gangster’s life, causing said gangster to lend the schlub his girlfriend and then get jealous that they’re growing too close, and that it stars Robert De Niro and Bill Murray, I would COMPLETELY assume that the acting roles were reversed. The movie gets points for that subversion alone in my book!
Yeah, I think that subversion was very much part of the plan. But it’s also not that subversive when you look at the actors themselves — De Niro is if not a pure schlub a very believable underdog/irritant kind of a guy (thinking a bit of Mean Streets here) and Murray is a big, potentially menacing dude — the best subversion is making him also a terrible comic, but this is also what 99 percent of people who think they are like Bill Murray are like.
Scrooged is one of my ATF Christmas movies. My kids request it every year (house rule that Christmas movies are for December only)…
Always loved that one. I just watched this with my daughter a couple of weeks ago. She loved it.
Sure is, but I don’t think of that one as “underrated”.
The last time i saw this movie in its entirety was a screening with a Bill Murray Q&A afterward. Wife and I literally bumped into Bill Murray before it started, spilled some popcorn, he introduced my wife as HIS wife to Elvis Mitchell. Haven’t watched the movie since because, well, how could it get better than that?
“The Edison’s are gonna have the best sex they’ve had since Altamont.”
“It’s bad luck just seeing a thing like that” and “It’s just a couple of guys sorting some things out” are two killer lines virtually back-to-back.
Nobody does that to Russ Crane! Nobody does that to Mrs. Russ Crane!
I did it with MARIO vinny!
“Angie! I love you baby!”Also“Oh that’s great. Dan Chipowski, 111 Astoria Boulevard, Queens, New York, 111…01.”
“Your Bloody Mary’s not to spicy for you is it, baby?”“Vinnie! Ya fuckin’ woim!”
Kurtwood Smith is a national treasure.
A lot of great character roles (and actors) in this movie.
One of my favourite underplayed gags in this film is how Mrs Russ Crane is introduced as this icily elegant upper-class princess type, but as soon as she opens her mouth she turns into this foul-mouthed Joisey Goil.
“Vinnie! You woim! I did it with Mario! When you were playing poker with your Goombah friends!?”
“No one does that to Mrs. Russ Crane!”
I love this movie so much.
And featuring the late great Bob Elliott. This, and “Mad Dog and Glory” are rather good indeed.
“…and I hate knives!”
I love this movie and I quote it constantly. I say “Up your butt with a coconut” so much that my niece and nephew say it all the time and they haven’t seen the movie
They were *ON* A BLUFTONI!
“But I saw no coconut. He had no coconut to my knowledge…”“…no coconut.”
Both coconut lines are firmly established in the private lexicon between me and my girlfriend.
Sometimes, their noses are horns.
I watched this right after Cinemax got it in probably 1990 and yeah, that isn’t the NYC of today, but boy who cares. I really need to re-watch this, if only for the bicycle jousting scene. “We should not have seen that” or something along those lines.
“It’s bad luck just seeing a thing like that”
“Say, what kinda clown are you, anyway?”
“I’m crying on the inside”
No mention of the bicycle joust scene?? One of those great cinematic non-sequitors. It has nothing to do with the plot, but its just 5 minutes of pure goofy fun.
That scene was so surreal. Like a Cervantes novel on acid.
I love that description!
No mention of the bicycle joust scene?? One of those great cinematic non-sequitors. It has nothing to do with the plot, but its just 5 minutes of pure goofy fun.
This movie does not get the notoriety it deserves, especially when people make lists of Best New York Movies, or Best “One-Day” Movies. It’s top-10 for both.
So New York City is like another character?
It’s bad luck just SEEIN’ somethin’ like that!”
The line my friends and I latched on to was from the scene where the guitar guy is trying to get on the bus. ”I don’t have time for this!”.
I first saw this movie when I was 10 or 11, and the guy trying to get on the bus, not fitting with his guitar, and just nonchalantly trying again, stood out to me as by far the funniest thing in the movie.
These days I think there’s funnier stuff, but it still makes me laugh.
Guitar Guy failing to enter the bus was funny.Guitar Guy trying to action-hero his way into the bus a couple beats later made me lose my shit the first time I saw it.
“Go and start a new life… somewhere off this bus.”
just a couple guys workin’ some stuff out
That and “flores para los muertos” always kill me. Great movie
You god damn straphangers are ruining Mrs. Crane’s beverage service.
I haven’t seen this movie in a long time but remember loving it. Tony Shalhoub takes a character that could have been the thinnest, one dimensional stereotype and finds a way to make his desperation real and hilarious.
Blufftoney! Blufftoney!
I still laugh at the idea they roughed him up, as awful as that sounds
We called buses “blaftoney” for years after seeing this. “Nah, I’m not drinking; I just don’t feel up to taking a blaftoney down here to get my car in the morning.”
That’s why I conduct my affairs in a clean and hygienic fashion.
The god damned AIRPORT! What do ya got shit in your ears?!
Yes! This line! I say it and add the “honk honk” but, sadly, no one knows what I’m talking about. (Ok. I remembered it as busfloomy. But, still)
Fun fact: Shaloub is literally speaking made-up gibberish the entire time.
“Blaftoney.”
*honk honk*
Gwadda hock too?I still say that all the time
His presence in this movie is one of its most enduring legacies for me personally because it introduced me to the scene stealing capabilities of Tony Shalhoub.
i must be popping a wheelie on the zeitgeist because this is like the 5th time in a row the ‘recommends’ is something i watched 2-3 weeks prior. if this rings true ‘about schmidt’ will be up in a few weeks.
I was recommending this film to my kids only last week. SYNCHRONY!
“Thanks for calling me pal.”“Did you find a watch?”
Someone on my Twitter was extolling this movie a day or two ago. An underrated gem, for sure.
[watching their car get rolled down the street by firefighters after parking in front of a hydrant]: “You can shoot us now.”
Anybody wanna go higher than $300? It’s got a moon on it!
I gotcha ‘whimsical hostility of Nu Yawk . . . right heah pal!:
For those who don’t know, this famous scene in King of Comedy happened to Jerry Lewis IRL.
That exchange is in “The King of Comedy” because it actually happened to Jerry Lewis.
Watched it in the theater. It’s not a well loved Murray film, but I’ve always enjoyed it. His list of demands as a distraction was fantastic. I still remember the cop getting out of the monster truck and waiving to the shouting crowd.
That monster truck does not have a hydraulic tilt body, it’s unacceptable.
I saw this in the theaters. There were 2 of us, and ONE other person. Underseen for sure. I love the movie, it became one of the more quoted movies in our family. We still wave like the cop when we get out of a big truck.I still say “wherr-uh HACH too?” to myself when I drive. I also say “it’s a DEAD MAN!” when I imagine calling the cops. And my brother actually thought a Spidel Twist-a-Flex watch band was worth buying for the rare inside joke alone. FANTASTIC movie score too.
Two lines:“Today’s just takin’ shit down!”“Sometimes… their NOSES are horns.”
If this post doesn’t bring Matthew back to the comments, nothing will.
HA! That was my immediate thought as well.
Quick Change 30 years later might reasonably brace for outdated ideas about New York as a crime-ridden cesspoolI mean, it wasn’t just ‘ideas’. New York of the late 1980s and early 1990s was a very different and far more dangerous place that’s often unbelievable to those under 35 or so.While there were always those with great wealth and privilege who got to live life insulated from the problems, the experience of the vast majority of people living there at the time was that it was a place they lived because that’s where their jobs were, and if they could have afforded it, they would have gotten the hell out of the city ASAP.There’s good reason why most of the characters in Quick Change express their hatred of New York in some form or another and that it didn’t receive any real pushback from critics at the time; that was consensus, and you can see it reflected in most shows set in New York at the time. One that I remember distinctly in an early season Law and Order is Merkerson’s Van Buren wondering to Briscoe and Logan why anyone in their right mind would still want to live there. So I wouldn’t call it outdated; more that any way you cut it, things have gotten a lot better, and it’s a snapshot of a New York that doesn’t exist anymore.That said, I do think it’s amusing that the payoff of the movie is…leaving New York for good.
Well, yeah, I mean outdated in the sense that I’m sure plenty of people who haven’t spent a lot of time in NYC (or are just older and remember all that stuff from the ’80s and ’90s, especially if viewed from afar) might still think of New York that way. Hell, I know older folks from the tristate area who grew up in NYC and/or nearby who still think of Brooklyn as kind of sketchy.
Sounds like my relatives from Bergen County.In some senses it’s much like how those of us who are older heard about the New York of the 1950s during the 1980s, which by that time was just as completely alien as the late 80s/early 90s New York is today.
My father in-law once referred to Ft. Greene as “kind of a shit hole”.
It’s been more than 20 years since I read it, but I seem to remember a line from Don DeLillo’s “White Noise” (1985), where a character from New York says that in NY the measure of wit is how cleverly you can express your unhappiness.
I have a niece who lives in Boston who I used to regale with horror stories about life in Beantown in the mid-70s. She cannot fathom the concept of streets unsafe to walk down at night.
“Why wouldn’t I go through Downtown Crossing on the way back to Beacon Hill or the North End!”
I mean, it’s not like it’s great to walk through Downtown Crossing late now — there’s not a lot of stuff open anymore so foot traffic is dead and there’s a lot of people scoring/dealing. The Combat Zone at least had people walking the street.
I was from a small town in the western U. S. and in 1968, I was at the Port Authority Bus Terminal at night. That was enough for me.
I was suspecting that the author wasn’t old enough to know or remember what it was like. Even those short films they used to run on Sesame Street (me & my llama, the girl who bakes cookies) looked so depressing to me as a kid. Like they were extras in the French Connection or Serpico.
“Better” is in the eye of the beholder.
Great, quotable movie. Great excuse for a good-old fashioned comment section quote fest!
They would both come into wider recognition with Big Night a couple of years later, but this is the first movie I can remember seeing Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci in. Meaning that the first line I ever heard Tucci say onscreen was “this ain’t my dick in your back!”
Well, that’s a relief.
Saw this when it was in theaters & watched it again a few months ago. I don’t know why this did not get more love when it was initially released. My first time seeing Tony Shalhoub loved those scenes with him & Quaid. One of my favorite Murray films.
“You don’t even understand colors, do you?!?”
Saw this when it was in theaters & watched it again a few months ago. I don’t know why this did not get more love when it was initially released.I don’t think people knew how to take Murray in this film. He had become famous for being the lovable slob you cheer for in relatively light, breezy slapstick. I remember this film being darker, his character a little less sympathetic.If the Bill Murray of the 2000s had been in this film, it would have been a smash.
i remember really liking this movie when it came out & i don’t think i’ve seen it since, i’ll have to hunt it down.
You can rent it right now from Amazon Prime for 2.99, worth every penny IMHO.
can you call my sister & ask for her prime info for me?
Yo momma should be able to help you out with that.
she likes you more than me.
I think Jesse’s being a little harsh on the movie’s depictions of non-white New Yorkers. There’s never been a more sensitive exploration of Latinx-American bicycle jousting before or since in cinema.
I had to switch this off halfway through. The blame sits entirely with Randy Quaid.
Oh, no, did he come to your house, ranting about the Star Assassins or whatever and interrupt your viewing?? 🙁
He kept sending me videos of him banging his wife while she wore various rubber presidential masks. Made the movie intolerable.
1., it’s the Star Whackers, and 2., could you really rule that out at this point?
Aw poor Randy. He’s good in stuff back then!
Haven’t seen this in forever, but I remember pulling some decent quotes from it back in the day 😀
Man, you guys are reaching. This movie is mediocre at best, for a few minutes at a stretch, with a couple decent one-liners. I saw it the day it came out, was anticipating it, and it sat there dead in the water.
Maybe now, with the wisdom that sometimes comes with age, you’ll be better-equipped to enjoy it.
No, I’m a screenwriter. I can guarantee you that I don’t enjoy it.
That seems like even more your problem than the movie’s. 😉
I need to revisit this one. I was 17 and worked the projection room at a movie theater when it was released. I’d watch bits and pieces of each movie all day, and would eventually see most of all the movies (really disjointedly, as you might imagine). Quick Change had a fairly short run because it was a dud box-office wise. Ran to mostly (if not completely) empty houses. But it never really caught my eye.
Yeah, well up your butt with a coconut!
This movie is so fucking funny. Shame I’ll never watch it again.
Because…..?
“Thank you. You could have given us help, but you’ve given us so much more.”“I was in nam with a jerk like you”
Apparently Murray was always a little miffed at Ron Howard, after he read the script and passed on directing this.
“Sometimes, their noses are horns.”
I love this movie.
No mention of the fact that Jason Robards is also in this movie? Jason friggin’ Robards. I have a lot of affection for this movie. Clowns welcome.
I always liked that movie. But I prefer the original with Jean-Paul Belmondo (not for snobby reasons, I just saw that one first).
Now I need to find both of them for my DVD/BD collection.
You didn’t mention the original writer of the book, Jay Cronley (from my home state!)
He had two other novels adapted into movies.
Funny Farm with Chevy Chase
Let It Ride with Richard DreyfussFanny Farm is probably the only Chevy Chase film that I have ever really laughed at (think “Newhart” but with a larger cast of eccentric characters).
but Let it Ride is one that I can watch again and again. Robbie Coltrane is great as the ticket agent who shares in the experience of Dreyfuss’ incredible day at the track (and Jennifer Tilley in that skin tight red dress ain’t bad either).
You know what’s weird? I knew this was based on a book, and I was ALSO just thinking (which is to say, thinking aloud over on Twitter) that I associate this movie with Funny Farm because they were both big HBO-watches for me during my “watch anything with the old SNL guys” phase (which was a little weird because this was happening when I was 10 and had not seen THAT much SNL), both seem less recognized than their respective stars’ biggest hits, and both were some of my favorites from those years. But I had no idea they were from the same source author. That’s delightful! I wonder if he has any books they could adapt for Dan Aykroyd.
Possibly “Screwballs”, which is a baseball story. He could play the no-nonsense manager that is brought in to revive a failing team (I’m no sports fan, but I thought the book was hilarious.)
Funny Farm was pretty funny. Especially when the dog made a beeline and ran away!
The dog they ended up with that stuck was awesome. Just the laziest dog ever.
Back in the ‘80s, I bought EVERY Jay Cronley book I could find because he just kept hitting with each successive one. Quick Change is probably my favorite, and it’s so much better than the movie – so if you liked the movie, read the book. Same with Funny Farm.The sad bit is that I haven’t been able to find Cronley books on Kindle, and my original paperback copies are so dog-eared and brittle at this point that I’ve only got a handful of reads left in them before they fall apart.
Oh my gosh, I forgot he wrote those. I used to read his column in the Tulsa World all the time (Thursdays, IIRC.) I will forever remember him describing his across the street neighbor running into a spider web on the way from her car to the front door. He could be a little grumpy, but he was almost always funny.And, I was looking to see when he stopped writing his column and found out he died in 2017. I haven’t read the Tulsa World in a long time, so I didn’t know he died.
A friend of mine loves this film , and watching it with my mates led to something we referred to as the ‘ Jason Robards drinking game’ basically , every time Robards character is onscreen , down a shot ….everything his character is furious, take another. Consequently we’d be hammered about an hour in.
Yeah this has to be on a shortlist of top NYC films. Obviously most of Woody Allen’s would be on it, but I’m going to leave them out for obvious reasons.Other great NYC films: Dog Day Afternoon, Taking of Pelham 123, Die Hard With a Vengeance, Ghostbusters 1 and 2 (I think calling it touristy is a bit unfair), Goodfellas, Spider Man 1 and 2, The Royal Tenenbaums (though obviously highly stylized), Men in Black, Warriors(still need to see it but I’m sure it would be on the list). Any others?
A lot of Ghostbusters was, IIRC, shot in Los Angeles, so I have a hard time thinking of those as super New Yorky… though I do think of Seinfeld as New Yorky and that was also shot in L.A., so what do I know. (Still, different rules for TV!)
Maybe, but the bits that were shot in New York feel really New York IMO.
I hear you about it being shot in LA but I think the establishing shots and its NYC “attitude” are enough. The sequence of Tulley being chased down Central Park West, being mauled outside of Tavern on the Green, and then the diners inside immediately returning to their meals would probably be enough for it to be on the list on its own. Honestly, Annie Potts’ “Ghostbusters, whaddaya waant?” would probably be enough on its own too.
A lot of Ghostbusters was, IIRC, shot in Los Angeles, so I have a hard time thinking of those as super New YorkyMost of the interiors were, to be sure. And they re-created a couple blocks of Central Park West on a Hollywood backlot so they could crack the blacktop.But a lot of the exteriors were shot on location, which was unusual in those days when NYC didn’t have the level of film production it does today. And that’s probably why it “feels” so authentically New York.
More crime: Naked City, Gimme The Loot, Inside Man, Across 110th StreetLarry Cohen Division: Q, Black Caesar, God Told Me To
I’d add The 25th Hour, Pi and Requiem for a Dream.
French Connection I & II
The Apartment, Once Upon a Time In America, Midnight Cowboy, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, The Odd Couple, The Fabulous Stains, Desperately Seeking Susan, Liquid Sky.. There’s so many and so varied!
Spider-Man 1’s honest, non-manipulated affection for Queens does so much to establish the character and authenticity of Peter, it cannot be overstated. Fuck the CGI Times Square sequence; the shots of Peter learning to swing through Queens are EVERYTHING.
Taking of Pelham 123 and Warriors are for sure two NYC classics, and Warriors gives you a nice tour of the boroughs when people weren’t exactly rushing out to the boroughs. I’d add the French Connection.
Love this film – I think the coin-bit in the shop is the bit that rings truest. Not the specifics, but that despair and frustration when you’re in a rush, and being cock-blocked by life.
I still say “Blathuvi” (honk honk) “Blathuvi”
And “I can do IT!” (when someone tries to help me load groceries.)
That has got to be one of the worst trailers I have ever seen. Even by late 80s screwball comedy standards. It makes the movie look like a boring road trip with the parents.
This was one of my teenage favorites. I thought back then that it was severely underrated. I haven’t seen it in years. I’d be interested how it holds up.
“I think it was a bowie knife. And I hate knives…”
Nobody does this to Mrs. Russ Crane!
I have a (perhaps mistaken) memory of Murray taking advantage of his role in order to paw at Ms. Davis rather more than he at ought. It felt a bit exploitative. I saw this film only once back around the time it first hit the video stores – remember video stores?
I watched this movie once when it came out on pay cable, and enjoyed it. I do remember at the time thinking the first 10-15 minutes were the funniest and it being OK after that.
No word that the movie is a remake of a Jean-Paul Belmondo-Movie:
This is the movie that put Tony Shalhoub on the map. And rightfully fucking so. It’s delightful. ‘Bluftooni!’ (honk, honk)