L.A. Story (1991)
A love letter to Los Angeles. A satire on the city the great Steve Martin has taken to calling his home. A surreal, whimsical romance. More like a series of comedic sketches. Like in stand up comedy, there are some sketches that make you laugh out loud, but others that unfortunately fall flat. Though the ones that stand out are so memorable that the slow moments seem negligible.
The Good. The Cameos (Paula Abdul, Chevy Chase, Iman, Woody Harrelson, Terry Jones, Martin Lawrence, Patrick Stewart, Rick Moranis, and more; The DVD has a cute little separate menu providing details on them). The opening traffic avoidance scene, where everyone waves to him, as if he navigates sidewalks like this all the time (a tribute to Fellini's La dolce vita). Sara's subsequent senseless driving. The coffee and lemon ordering. The roller skating through fine art galleries. Commentaries on the ridiculousness in Hollywood. How SanDeE* must be spelled like that and all material, official or not, writes it out like that (her endless prancing and twirling is ever so annoying but young Parker still manages to be adorable). The Hard Rock Cafe scene where her boyfriend happens to be sitting at the bar, eerily watching them. L'Idiot, the pretentious dining establishment (where Patrick Stewart is Maitre D') that barters reservations and menu allowances (You think with a financial statement like this you can have the duck?"). The hotel in Santa Barbara is called "El Pollo del Mar" ("Chicken of the Sea"). Filmed in California. I am a California girl, so this was (mostly) positively regarded. Shakespeare references and quotes. (some misquoted or paraphrased, of course). Priceless one-liners. I will refrain from listing more than a few: "Hello, this is Harris. I'm in right now, so you can talk to me personally. Please start talking at the sound of the beep."; "Rather than doing an interview with me, which would be fascinating by the way, because of the interesting word usements I structure."; Why is it that you don't always recognize the moment when love begins but you always know when it ends?"; "Let your mind go and your body will follow."; "All I know is, on the day your plane was to leave, if I had the power, I would turn the winds around, I would roll in the fog, I would bring in storms, I would change the polarity of the earth so compasses couldn't work, so your plane couldn't leave." (The billboard does this for him later!); "There are only two things in my life I will never forget. One is that there is someone for everyone. Even if you need a pickax, a compass, and night goggles to find them. And the other is tonight. When I learned that romance does exist deep in the heart of Los Angeles." Alright, several.
The Bad. There were some moments where I was a little bored, probably because I was not understanding the humor. I had to look into some of it in order to understand them. You would need to have lived in California- and preferably in the nineties- to truly appreciate many of the references. Somewhat dated. The Enya songs honestly did not seem to match the scenes. I loved Enya as much as anyone, but she did not seem to fit here. I did feel like there was a little much going on. Steve Martin apparently worked on the script for seven years. A lot of material squeezed into the two hours made for some characters I did not care for or wanted to know better, a few random vignettes that did not seem to go anywhere, sometimes what seemed like a lack of focus.
The Amazing.
And I saved the best for last, my favorite character, the adorably communicative electronic highway billboard sign. That gives love advice. And wants to be hugges. Insists on it. I might want billboards for my friends after this.
Overall, though? Characters I cared for, witty writing, heartfelt romance, and good laughs. Plus, I have to be honest. I am biased in favor of anything from this man I have long deemed a genius.
News flash. 42 is no longer the answer to life. "How Daddy is Doing" = "Sing Doo Wah Diddy". Enough said. End credits.
A love letter to Los Angeles. A satire on the city the great Steve Martin has taken to calling his home. A surreal, whimsical romance. More like a series of comedic sketches. Like in stand up comedy, there are some sketches that make you laugh out loud, but others that unfortunately fall flat. Though the ones that stand out are so memorable that the slow moments seem negligible.
The Good. The Cameos (Paula Abdul, Chevy Chase, Iman, Woody Harrelson, Terry Jones, Martin Lawrence, Patrick Stewart, Rick Moranis, and more; The DVD has a cute little separate menu providing details on them). The opening traffic avoidance scene, where everyone waves to him, as if he navigates sidewalks like this all the time (a tribute to Fellini's La dolce vita). Sara's subsequent senseless driving. The coffee and lemon ordering. The roller skating through fine art galleries. Commentaries on the ridiculousness in Hollywood. How SanDeE* must be spelled like that and all material, official or not, writes it out like that (her endless prancing and twirling is ever so annoying but young Parker still manages to be adorable). The Hard Rock Cafe scene where her boyfriend happens to be sitting at the bar, eerily watching them. L'Idiot, the pretentious dining establishment (where Patrick Stewart is Maitre D') that barters reservations and menu allowances (You think with a financial statement like this you can have the duck?"). The hotel in Santa Barbara is called "El Pollo del Mar" ("Chicken of the Sea"). Filmed in California. I am a California girl, so this was (mostly) positively regarded. Shakespeare references and quotes. (some misquoted or paraphrased, of course). Priceless one-liners. I will refrain from listing more than a few: "Hello, this is Harris. I'm in right now, so you can talk to me personally. Please start talking at the sound of the beep."; "Rather than doing an interview with me, which would be fascinating by the way, because of the interesting word usements I structure."; Why is it that you don't always recognize the moment when love begins but you always know when it ends?"; "Let your mind go and your body will follow."; "All I know is, on the day your plane was to leave, if I had the power, I would turn the winds around, I would roll in the fog, I would bring in storms, I would change the polarity of the earth so compasses couldn't work, so your plane couldn't leave." (The billboard does this for him later!); "There are only two things in my life I will never forget. One is that there is someone for everyone. Even if you need a pickax, a compass, and night goggles to find them. And the other is tonight. When I learned that romance does exist deep in the heart of Los Angeles." Alright, several.
The Bad. There were some moments where I was a little bored, probably because I was not understanding the humor. I had to look into some of it in order to understand them. You would need to have lived in California- and preferably in the nineties- to truly appreciate many of the references. Somewhat dated. The Enya songs honestly did not seem to match the scenes. I loved Enya as much as anyone, but she did not seem to fit here. I did feel like there was a little much going on. Steve Martin apparently worked on the script for seven years. A lot of material squeezed into the two hours made for some characters I did not care for or wanted to know better, a few random vignettes that did not seem to go anywhere, sometimes what seemed like a lack of focus.
The Amazing.
And I saved the best for last, my favorite character, the adorably communicative electronic highway billboard sign. That gives love advice. And wants to be hugges. Insists on it. I might want billboards for my friends after this.
Overall, though? Characters I cared for, witty writing, heartfelt romance, and good laughs. Plus, I have to be honest. I am biased in favor of anything from this man I have long deemed a genius.
News flash. 42 is no longer the answer to life. "How Daddy is Doing" = "Sing Doo Wah Diddy". Enough said. End credits.