HOLOCAUST HUMOR FALLS FLAT
Added 9/17/2005
Trying to milk any kind of laughs from the Holocaust and the plight of a Nazi war criminal is questionable as it is, and the people behind this travesty didn't achieve any kind of success. The movie follows Dan Aykroyd (another one of his phoned in performances) who discovers he is living next door to a suspected escaped Nazi war criminal (Jack Lemmon, looking both tired and bored). When Lemmon tells Aykroyd he is going back to Ecuador to escape this so called fabrication, Aykroyd decides to take matters into his own hand and poisons Lemmon with cyanide apples. The plot takes a few twists and turns, but ultimately falls flat on its face. Lily Tomlin shows up as Lemmon's daughter with an accent right out of Laugh-In; and poor Bonnie Hunt is wasted as the doctor who ends up becoming Aykroyd's fiancee. Few films that try to invoke humor out of serious situations work (M*A*S*H is the most noticeable exception and it worked because its humor came as part of the situations and plotlines, and was never intended to minimize the atrocities it parallelled). GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER is a film that never should have made it's attempt.
0 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Look elsewhere for laughs.
Added 6/23/2005
Getting Away with Murder tells the story of Jack Lambert, a college ethics professor, who discovers that his neighbor may be a nazi war criminal. Dan Ackroyd is the professor and Jack Lemmon is the suspected war criminal. Ackroyd is known for being a funny man from his Saturday Night Live days and films such as The Blues Brothers. He is not funny in Getting Away with Murder. Viewers looking for humor in this film will be sadly disappointed.
Even though I was not amused, I was interested in the story of Lambert(Akroyd) deciding to take into his own hands the punishment for the war criminal. As a professor of ethics he should know better than to become judge, jury, and executioner. With all the safeguards in our legal system, we still make mistakes. Without safeguards, disaster must follow, as it does in this movie.
The plot has many twists and turns, none of them humorous, before the final conclusion -- ironic, but again, not funny. To say more about what happens as Akroyd hatches his plot to kill the criminal might spoil this film for viewers who want to decide for themselves if the movie is as bad as all the critics say it is.
I must admit that this film was just good enough to keep me watching until the implausible and unsatisfying end.
2 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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title of review
Added 12/8/2004
I think there's two kinds of good movies. The kind that keep you interested and entertained while you're watching, but don't provoke much afterthought, and the kind that can be trying to the patience while you're watching, but leave more of an impression. Film buffs are generally only interested in the latter. This film is the former, and as someone with a short attention span who isn't looking at films as something that should change one's life, I found this film to be a very satisfying viewing experience.
At worst it's an engaging story you can sit through without having to endure any boring parts, at best an intellectually stimulating look at the internal ethical dialogue a man explores when faced with a difficult situation, and the places his choices lead him.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Good in itself.
Added 10/22/2001
this movie is well controlled and not aimed for a simple fun.
the storyline is interresting and satirizes a moralism in certain circumstances. this movie can be excellent if you possiblely don't have any preconception or image about the famous actors.
2 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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i liked it even if no one else did
Added 4/20/2001
this movie is like a rear window comedy/drama/mystery if that is at all possible. Aykroyd really acted well in this along w/ the rest of the all star cast, lemon and tomlin. It is not the greatest movie on earth but one, in my opnion that is worth viewing. A lot of people didn't like this movie, I still found it entertaining and intriging but i guess it just isn't for every one. The mystery is top notch though, i really didn't c the end comming.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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HOLOCAUST HUMOR FALLS FLAT
Added 9/17/2005
Trying to milk any kind of laughs from the Holocaust and the plight of a Nazi war criminal is questionable as it is, and the people behind this travesty didn't achieve any kind of success. The movie follows Dan Aykroyd (another one of his phoned in performances) who discovers he is living next door to a suspected escaped Nazi war criminal (Jack Lemmon, looking both tired and bored). When Lemmon tells Aykroyd he is going back to Ecuador to escape this so called fabrication, Aykroyd decides to take matters into his own hand and poisons Lemmon with cyanide apples. The plot takes a few twists and turns, but ultimately falls flat on its face. Lily Tomlin shows up as Lemmon's daughter with an accent right out of Laugh-In; and poor Bonnie Hunt is wasted as the doctor who ends up becoming Aykroyd's fiancee. Few films that try to invoke humor out of serious situations work (M*A*S*H is the most noticeable exception and it worked because its humor came as part of the situations and plotlines, and was never intended to minimize the atrocities it parallelled). GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER is a film that never should have made it's attempt.
0 out of 3 people found this helpful.
|
Look elsewhere for laughs.
Added 6/23/2005
Getting Away with Murder tells the story of Jack Lambert, a college ethics professor, who discovers that his neighbor may be a nazi war criminal. Dan Ackroyd is the professor and Jack Lemmon is the suspected war criminal. Ackroyd is known for being a funny man from his Saturday Night Live days and films such as The Blues Brothers. He is not funny in Getting Away with Murder. Viewers looking for humor in this film will be sadly disappointed.
Even though I was not amused, I was interested in the story of Lambert(Akroyd) deciding to take into his own hands the punishment for the war criminal. As a professor of ethics he should know better than to become judge, jury, and executioner. With all the safeguards in our legal system, we still make mistakes. Without safeguards, disaster must follow, as it does in this movie.
The plot has many twists and turns, none of them humorous, before the final conclusion -- ironic, but again, not funny. To say more about what happens as Akroyd hatches his plot to kill the criminal might spoil this film for viewers who want to decide for themselves if the movie is as bad as all the critics say it is.
I must admit that this film was just good enough to keep me watching until the implausible and unsatisfying end.
2 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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title of review
Added 12/8/2004
I think there's two kinds of good movies. The kind that keep you interested and entertained while you're watching, but don't provoke much afterthought, and the kind that can be trying to the patience while you're watching, but leave more of an impression. Film buffs are generally only interested in the latter. This film is the former, and as someone with a short attention span who isn't looking at films as something that should change one's life, I found this film to be a very satisfying viewing experience.
At worst it's an engaging story you can sit through without having to endure any boring parts, at best an intellectually stimulating look at the internal ethical dialogue a man explores when faced with a difficult situation, and the places his choices lead him.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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