Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
I feel like Frank Oz does not get the credit as a comedy filmmaker he’s due. Yes, his work with Jim Henson on “The Muppets,” and his iconic work as Yoda, is to be revered, but I don’t think filmgoers really have as much appreciation for his work as a comedy director as he should receive. Yes, his output has lessened as Hollywood has shifted its priorities, but the director of “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Bowfinger” the original “Death at a Funeral” and “In & Out,” among others, has a gift for broad premises that will either deliver warm heart, or wicked dark humor, or even both. “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” is definitely more of a dark comedy, but the way it plays out is good-natured, with a devious twist at the end.
I’ve seen bits and pieces of Oz’s 1988 comedy over the years, but this was my first full viewing, and it was a genuine pleasure seeing how he brings the best out of Michael Caine, Steve Martin and Glenne Headly as they move their way through the central con Oz and his writers, Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning, have devised here. We begin with Caine’s Lawrence Jamieson working his latest con, telling wealthy women that he is a prince looking for fund for a revolution. As he is taking a train home to a town in France, he noticed Freddie (Steve Martin) come into the dining car, and work his own con on a woman. They share a room together, and Lawrence is sizing up Freddie, who is unpolished and a bit more transparent, although still pretty decent. He starts to work in the town, where Lawrence lives with his butler (Arthur, played by Ian McDiarmid), and has connections with the local police chief who is keeping an eye out for targets for him. Lawrence cannot abide Freddie horning in on his turf, so he tries to convince him to leave, but they end up in a bet when an American heiress (Glenne Headly) catches their eye to see who can get $50,000 dollars out of her first. The winner gets to stay, and it’ll be interesting to see whose techniques come out on top.
The film is about the long con, but more than that, it’s about watching Martin and Caine playing off of one another, and both are at the top of their game here. It’s fun starting to dive into Caine when he was younger and playing in more sly comedies and comedy-drama like he does here and in his Oscar-winning turn in “Hannah and Her Sisters”- I’ve known him best for his older-aged dramatic roles, and Oz brings the best out of him here as Lawrence. The way Oz and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus shoot the first scene is brilliant- it’s focused on Lawrence and his mark’s hands, and we just hear Caine’s voice as he plays his mark like a fiddle, and we simply imagine the way Caine’s character’s face is when he is doing this. The fatherly figure in many of Christopher Nolan’s film is gone, and we see him trying to live a life of leisure and easy money when Freddie turns it upside down. This might be one of Martin’s best broad comedy roles- though I’ll admit to having much from him to catch up with prior to “Scoundrels”- and he goes really broad here on some of the scenes with Caine, especially when he is playing Caine’s “mentally-handicapped” brother, and Martin is hilarious playing silly. Both actors really shine, however, when they share scenes with Headly, and even though I kind of knew where things were headed with her character, part of the fun is watching her handle Caine and Martin as they are going through their respective cons, all the while in awe of what we may suspect Headly’s Janet of doing. When that ending comes, Oz and co. make it count, and it’s a beautiful capper to a film that is as wickedly ruthless as it is hilarious.
