Best Defense/Crazy People

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

How about a double dose of Dudley Moore? The hilarity kicks off with an eerie (but still funny) foreshadowing of the Iraq War in Best Defense (Eddie Murphy. 1984/94 min.) and concludes with the nutty truth-in-advertising flick Crazy People (Daryl Hannah. 1990/91 min.). Color/R/widescreen.

DVD FEATURES:

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Dudley Moore - Emory Leeson
       Daryl Hannah - Kathy Burgess
       Kate Capshaw - Laura
       Helen Shaver - Claire
       George Dzundza - Loparino
       Ben Hammer - Dr. Horace Koch
       Dick Cusack - Mort Powell
       Alan North - Judge
       Tom Noonan - Holtzman
       Danton Stone - Saabs
       Doug Yasuda - Hsu
       Bill Smitrovich - Bruce Concannon
       Paul Bates - Manuel Robles
       Floyd Vivino - Eddie Avis
       John Terlesky - Adam Burgess
       David Packer - Mark Olander
       Larry King - Himself
       Alan Haufrect - Hit and Run Victim

• Director:

  Willard Huyck, Tony Bill

• Producer:

  Gloria Katz, Tom Barad, Michael Ewing, Robert Weiss

• Screenwriter:

  Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz

• Book Author:

  Robert Grossbach

• Screenwriter:

  Mitch Markowitz

• Cinematographer:

  Alan North, Victor J. Kemper

• Composer (Music Score):

  Patrick Williams, Cliff Eidelman

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Cliff Eidelman

• Editor:

  Michael A. Stevenson, Sidney Wolinsky, Mia Goldman

• Production Designer:

  Robert Latham Brown, Peter Jamison, Robert W. Welch III, Austin Jewell, John J. Lloyd

• Art Director:

  Ariel Roshko, Steven Schwartz

• Set Designer:

  Giora Porter, R. Chris Westlund, Rick T. Gentz

• Costume Designer:

  Jennifer Parsons, Kristi Zea, Mary Vogt

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Jerry Jost, Robin Gregory

• Makeup:

  Robert Ryan

• Special Effects:

  John R. Elliott, Richard Johnson

• First Assistant Director:

  Christine Larson

• Camera Operator:

  Lou Barlia

• Stunts:

  Rick Dees, Everett Creach

• Production Manager:

  Austen Jewell

• Casting:

  Lynn Stalmaster

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Everett Creach

REVIEW:

• Vastly underrated director Tony Bill reunites with Dudley Moore, the star of his film Six Weeks (1982), for this memorable comedy that relies too much on its genuinely funny central idea and not enough on developing its hilarious ensemble of wacky supporting characters. What works phenomenally well in this box-office bust is the concept of literal truth in advertising. Not only are the brutally honest ad campaigns dreamed up by screenwriter Mitch Markowitz scathingly funny, they remind the audience of just how overwhelmingly disingenuous are the corporate messages with which they are endlessly barraged. Much to the film's detriment, though, the lead role of Emory (Moore) is woefully unexplored, as are the delightful supporting players he meets in the insane asylum, particularly George (David Paymer) (the "Hello" guy), around whom much more comic business should have been built. If the rest of Crazy People (1990) had been as wickedly subversive as the picture's high-concept pitch, the final product might have been a comedy classic. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi