Oscar: Rare & Under Appreciated #4

Certain directors simply lose the ability to make great movies. Either the inspiration leaves them, they mature past the mindset that created their best work, or they over (or under think) the creative process which initially created such great works. John Carpenter is one. Spielberg was nearly...but pulled it back with Jurassic Park. It looks like M. Nighy Shyamalan is going to be the next one to fall.

John Landis is one such flailing director. Once a God helming classics like The Bluses Brothers, Animal House, Trading Places and American Werewolf. Then came duds like Beverly Hills Cop III, Innocent Blood and Blues Brothers 2000...films that still had traces of the old Landis...but all the subtlety and grace had gone. His last great effort was way back in 1988 with Coming To America.

However, before the rot truly enveloped him he gave us Oscar, a Sylvester Stallone star vehicle based around a farcical French stage play. It's generally hated simply for the fact that it stars Stallone trying his hand at comedy (and if you've seen Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, you'll know how disastrous that can be!). But take a closer look and there's a little gem to be found.

The script is what you'd expect from a French farce with a large ensemble of characters getting their identities mixed up and intentions confused with scheming, double crossing and stupidity the order of the day. Then Landis works his magic. He gives us a cast that are (mostly) adept at this type of comedy. And he weaves his mastery of the composition and timing of cinema comedy. It's the speed of an actor's delivery, the exaggerated body language they use, the importance of reaction shots, the balancing of tone (playing it straight...and at the same time ,totally absurdly), the post-modern exasperated looks...directly into camera, the quirky musical inspired moments and the surreal cutaways to inanimate objects.

Stallone gives the film a strong centre around which the talented cast revolve (Tim Curry and, Landis regular, Peter Riegert are outstanding) but he doesn't always understand the kind of stylised acting that's required of him (he moves around too much when a more still delivery would create more gags). But he pulls off a few corkers, to his credit.

If you've avoided this because it's a farce, chances are you won't like it. But, if you've so far avoided this because of the Sly factor, then I urge you to reconsider.