In Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988, PG), sloppy, brash American con man Steve Martin tramples through the carefully guarded French Riviera territory of elegant charlatan Michael Caine. This, of course, means war. The prize is the easy pickings of the rich widows who pass through the wealthy resort town. The battle? The first to separate an […]
The 2006 TV season treated us to not one but two shows set backstage at a late-night comedy skit show. 30 Rock (2006-2013) was the funny one created by and starring Tina Fey, the former head writer of Saturday Night Live and host of the SNL “Weekend Update.” It was also the good one and […]
Bowfinger (1999), Steve Martin’s tribute to shoestring filmmaking and big-screen dreams, is a loving lampoon that gamely straddles the chasm between cynical con-artistry and benign innocence. Martin wrote the film and stars as commercial director and would-be filmmaker Bobbie Bowfinger, a Hollywood dreamer with more chutzpah than talent. When he stumbles upon the perfect, a […]
Aprils Fools rejoice! Shout! Factory offers some vintage comedy for the month of April on their free, ad-supported streaming service Shout Factory TV. To start with, there are six Steve Martin TV specials from the 1970s and 1980s. The 1976 On Location with Steve Martin is straight stand-up concert originally made for HBO but the […]
