Reviewed by: W.J. Kimble
CONTRIBUTOR
Moral Rating: | Very Offensive |
Moviemaking Quality: |
|
Primary Audience: | Teens Adults |
Genre: | Comedy |
Length: | 90 min. |
Year of Release: | 1998 |
USA Release: |
Featuring | Leslie Nielsen, Richard Crenna, Kelly LeBrock, Melinda McGraw, Michael York, Sandra Bernhard |
Director |
Pat Proft |
Producer | |
Distributor |
Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company |
“Naked Gun” and “Airplane” were funny. Their sequels were so-so. “Wrongfully Accused” is obnoxious! At best, it is pre-pubescent. The humor is childish, the storyline is horrendous and the plot is completely absurd! I can’t imagine why anyone would spend their hard-earned money on such a film as this. I realize that it is supposed to be a movie that spoofs everything; but a spoof is a mockery of something or a joke that is supposed to make you laugh. It has some sense of reality. Yet, this movie neither made me laugh nor made any tangible effort to make even the slightest pretense of normality. It was trite and mundane; rude and crude; obnoxious and very offensive. It is a lame excuse for a film.
While obviously trying to spoof “The Fugitive,” Pat Proft, the director, fell short of his goal by constantly throwing in spoofs of other movies. Here is a list of movies he spoofed: 1. “The Maltese Falcon”, 2. “Casablanca”, 3. “Mission Impossible,” 4. “Braveheart,” 5. “Titanic,” 6. (TV's) “Baywatch”, 7. “Anaconda,” 8. “America’s Most Wanted,” 9. “Field of Dreams”, 10. “Superman”, 11. “Charlie’s Angels,” 11. “Fargo,” 12. “On the Waterfront”, 13. “The Usual Suspects”, 14. “Bridges of Madison County”, 15. “Clear and Present Danger” and 15. “North by Northwest”; and these are only the ones that I was able to notice; there could be more!
Worse yet, Proft, who also is the screenplay writer, has an obsession with sexual overtures and innuendoes. The movie is filled with this filth. There is no nudity; but there is no redeeming values either. In one scene, Ryan Harrison (Leslie Nieslen, “Mr. Magoo”, “The Naked Gun”) removes Cass Lake’s (Melinda McGraw, “Albino Alligator”) bra. It then flies across the room and bounces back in their direction. She quickly ducks as we see it fly over their heads. While this is done from behind and you only see her backside, it is still immature and juvenile. Later on you see his gun appear out of his zipper giving the illusion of you-know-what protruding out of his pants.
There are constant references to oral sex, regular sex, kinky sex, orgasms and more.
“Wrongfully Accused” is about a concert violinist, Ryan Harrison, who being involved in an illicit affair with socialite, Lauren Goodhue (Kelly Lebrock, “Hard Bounty”, “Weird Science”), is convicted of the death of her husband, Hibbing Goodhue (Michael York, “54”, “Goodbye America”), who just happened to uncover a plot to assassinate the United Nations Secretary-General. Harrison escapes but is pursued relentlessly by a tenacious U.S. Marshal, by the name of Fergus Falls (Richard Crenna, “Jade”). Harrison is able to just stay ahead of him while staying hot on the trail of Sean Lughrea (Aaron Pearl, “Noah”), the one-armed, one-legged, one-eyed man, who really committed the crime. The only person who believes he’s innocent is Cass Lake, who befriends him. If you don’t know how the story ends, go see “The Fugitive”. It’s a better movie and really worth watching.