'HARRY AND WALTER GO TO NEW YORK'.....IN SEARCH OF LAUGHS.....WHICH THEY NEVER FIND....

 Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976)

       Yet another film that falls into the category of "Who ever thought this was a good idea?"

        A lavishly budgeted, overproduced comedy, it recreates the teeming streets, theaters and vaudeville nightclubs of 1890's New York. And all of it photographed (as usual for period films made in the 1970's) in that muted, brownish desaturated color that signified 'a long, long time ago'. 

        And packed with the biggest superstars of the 70's....James Caan, Elliot Gould, Michael Caine and Diane Keaton. With direction handled by top A-list director Mark Rydell ("The Reivers", "The Cowboys", "Cinderella Liberty")

          Only one huuuge problem here.....especially for a comedy.....

          There's not a single minute of its 111 minute running time that's funny. Or even remotely amusing. In fact, it's damn painful to watch. All that money, time and talent thrown at the screen.....for nothing at all. 

         You'd need the Hubbell telescope to detect any humor in the script concocted by John Byrum and Robert Kaufman. With no trace of fun in sight, director Rydell concentrated on the decor and overall atmosphere, while allowing Caan and Gould to carry on like a dire blend of Abbott and Costello, Jerry Lewis and the Three Stooges.  They're excruciating to watch in action, dripping in flop sweat and desperation. 

        The boys play Harry and Walter, terrible vaudevillians and petty thieves who find themselves locked up in prison along with suave, aristocratic gentleman safecracker Adam Worth (Caine, the only cast member who survives with his dignity intact.) Worth despises the bumbling duo, who accidentally set fire to the thief's luxurious, furnished prison cell. (Apparently, Worth's charm and reputation makes him beloved among the prison staff.)

     Back in the big city, our dumb duo conspire to thwart Worth's next bank heist by robbing the bank ahead of him........with the aid of fiery progressive pamphleteer Lissa Chestnut (Keaton, in a waste-of-time role for her). This ridiculous caper involves the boys crashing a performance of an absurd musical, upending it with their own improvised, massively unfunny clowning, like a hellish remake of "A Night At The Opera". (At one point in this tortuous sequence, Gould dons blackface. Enough said.)

         The only diversion anyone might take out of this trainwreck comes from the film's enormous roster of familiar faces in the supporting cast.....Charles Durning, Burt Young, Lesley Ann Warren, Jack Guilford, Bert Remsen, Ted Cassidy and many more.

         Catastrophic from beginning to end, "Harry and Walter....", to absolutely nobody's surprise, flopped the instant it hit theaters, with the cast and filmmakers quickly disowning it. We wouldn't even recommend this film for fans of the actors involved.....for them, it might prove too  heartbreaking to sit through. 

         Unfit on any and every level. Zero stars (0). Avoid it whenever it rears its ugly head....

           

         

        

'BRIMSTONE HOLLOW'.....MURDER IN APPALACHIA......FOR GOSH SNAKES!

  Brimstone Hollow by Archer Sullivan (2026)

     Nothing's better to cozy up with than a swiftly paced mystery steeped in the atmosphere of its location.....taking you to a place that seems so familiar and yet somehow strange and threatening at the same time.

     And that would perfectly describe the rural Americana settings of Appalachia where Private Investigator Annie Gore operates. Her latest case takes her to a small town that was mystified and enthralled by a snake handling preacher.......until he was found dead, bitten and poisoned by the very reptiles that curled around his arms during his thundering sermons.

     The preacher's daughter, raised by a mother who fled the marriage to her father, now hires Annie to look into why her father's funeral and burial came and went with such speed in that supposedly sleepy little town. Annie Gore, toughened by an unsettled childhood and her years as an Air Force investigator, won't leave that town until all of its darkest secrets are laid bare. Because it's clear that preacher Ezra King's death by snakebite was no accident and the increasing pile up of murders that follow more than bear that out.

     Author Archer Sullivan knows her territory like only an Appalachian can and the town, with its bizarre church, supernatural rumors and notorious deep sulfur pit are vividly depicted. A dangerous place to poke your nose into private lives, but Annie Gore won't leave town until there's closure for her client and an end to the mysteries swirling around the high body count. .

The book's incredible, tragic reveals finally come at you one after the other. 'Brimstone Hollow' may not sound like an ideal vacation spot but it makes for a solidly page-turning whodunit.

       4 stars (****).

'A KILLER PLOT'......MURDER, SHE FOUND.......AGAIN AND AGAIN......

 A Killer Plot by E.C. Nevin (2026) 

     Welcome back, Jane Hepburn, great to see you back in sleuthing action. Jane, the tall, ungainly mystery novelist who's led a poignant life as a lonely, friendless outcast since childhood, once again encounters murder most foul in the publishing world. It's nice to report that since her last adventure, Jane's exhibits at least a smidge more self respect and less endless self depreciation. And she now has two genuine best buds who constitute her Scooby squad when hunting down killers.....young writer Natasha Martez and publisher intern Daniel Thurston.

     At a book party celebrating Natasha's fast selling debut mystery, Jane, all too typical for her, stumbles upon the body of a young, vivacious assistant editor.........and the poor girl won't be the first murder victim. Her boss comes next.......and guess who stumbles on that fresh corpse too?

     Author E.C. Nevin again creates a daunting array of suspects and motives for Jane, Natasha and Daniel to untangle. And along the way, there's no end of behind the scenes looks at the publishing universe of authors, editors and agents . Jane herself, even as she doggedly hunts down clues, looks for inspiration to break through her writer's block.

     My only quibble here is the same one I had with the previous book in the series, 'A Novel Murder'. Author E.C. Nevin displays a genuine talent for witty byplay, but rations it out in teaspoon portions. I only wish these books would graduate to 2-cup measuring spoons for the humor. But I was also truly taken and moved with amount of Jane's introspection into the ironic tragedies that surround the surprising final reveals.

      Everything's here you'd want in a great whodunit, including a detective unlike any other. Here's hoping for even more friends and self confidence for Jane in her next excursion........(but I'd advise anyone who attends these publishing parties with her to watch their backs from now on....)

     4 stars (****).

'MY KILLER FAMILY REUNION'......THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER.....JUST FOR FUN.....UNTIL IT ISN'T.....

 My Killer Family Reunion by Dinesh Thiru (2026) 

     Nothing warms the heart more (and turns the pages faster) than a large extended family whose every member contemplates their own effective way to bump off the fam's powerhouse Matriarch. An amusing game the clan plays with each other that even tickles the Grand Mom herself, as she is called by everyone.

Amusing, that is, until it becomes apparent that somebody in the Devi family isn't kidding around with their intentions. And it falls to the most ignored, forgotten of the Devis, teen Jayshree, to become the family's most dedicated sleuth in getting to the bottom of things.

     This book literally teems with not only Devi parents, children, and cousins, there's also plenty of rivalries, secrets, romances, heartbreak, humor, attempted murders and even some nail biting suspense and do-or-die action. Jayshree manages to navigate her way through it all, even as her cousins, along with the rest of the family, conspire to put her in the path of that visiting charming Spanish student who's beginning to make her heart flutter.

     Author Dinish Thiru has put together a hugely entertaining package here. And it's filled to the very brim with all the messy comedic moments,, heartfelt drama and surprises that could only occur when such a large family reunites in one place. Enough chaos reigns to split them all asunder but those family bonds are tough to break.

     Engrossing, fun and with enough stuff going on that could fill five other YA comedy-mysteries. Grand Mom rules, but keep your eye on her now unforgettable granddaughter Jay.

      4 stars (****).

'BRIDGET & GABE ARE NOT OKAY.....YE OLDE YA LOVE TROUBLES....WITH THE KNIGHTS OF ANGST AND QUIPS.....

  Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay by Lex Croucher (2026)

     Once again, author Lex Croucher cleverly confirms what we always suspected......that the mythical, mystical world of Arthurian England and Camelot was actually populated by YA characters steeped in simmering hormones, romantic angst and the ability to fire off snappy, snarky remarks at any given moment.

     Well, after the fun of 'Gwen and Art Are Not In Love", our favorite Camelot cosplay gang is back. But, sorry to say, not with quite as much of those laugh-out-loud moments we all enjoyed in the first book. The aftermath of battle has left two major queer romances on rocky paths strewn with hurt feelings, miscommunications, PTSD, and severe identity crisis. King Gabriel, given to panic attacks and almost zero self confidence, painfully pines for knight Sir Arthur. HIs sister Princess Gwendoline deals with similar anxiety over her love gone awry for the fierce girl warrior Bridget, who's afraid she's lost her courageous jousting bravado.

     There's only one way for these crazy kids to resolve their issues....... summon the Knights, create the Round Table and hit the road in search of the Questing Beast, the Green Knight, the Lady in the Lake and the Holy Grail. Not to mention rev up some favorable P..R. for Gabriel's progressive, groundbreaking new dictates for the kingdom, like legalizing same sex relationships and getting kids off the farm and into schools.

     The book does have some real sly witty fun with the various quests, some of which come to resemble the Monty Python misadventures. But the focus here remains on the two young queer couples struggling to rekindle those burning fires between them that never really went out.....only tamped down by cruel circumstance and their own misunderstandings of each other. And with their long questing exploits almost at an end,, the stakes are suddenly raised higher than all four of them ever anticipated.

     The adroit bending and warping of Arthurian legends remains captivating and you most definitely won't want to stop reading until you're satisfied that Bridget and Gwen and Art and Gabe are way more than okay.

     4 stars (****).

WEEKEND MADNESS WRAP-UP......SPECIAL "VANDALS STOLE MY MISSILES!!" EDITION.......

 

BQ visitors....Have a great, great weekend. See you all on monday More film reviews and a big batch of fascinating new books to talk about too!

And hey there, Trumpanzees!  We saved this one just for you. Feel free to think about it while you're at the gas pump or grocery store.....

'THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2'.....20 YEARS LATER, PAINFULLY OUT OF FASHION.....

 The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)

        Begs the question.....who wanted this?  

    Anybody?  Anybody?  Bueller?  Bueller?

     Our best guess as to who really wanted to see the 'Prada' gang 20 years later......about the same amount of people craving a live action 'Moana'......

     Since they went ahead and made the film anyway, our natural expectations would assume that 'Prada 2' would at least strive to equal the first in its sharp, witty view of a fashionista Queen and those who fall into her orbit. 

     Nope. Nothing like that in sight. And those returning to watch the film's leading quartet of actors delivering more bitchy nasty fun will leave sorely disappointed. 

       This time around, director David Frankel and his screenwriters conceive something more like a serious drama......how the upheavals in journalism and pop culture turned the world upside down for reporter Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) and High Priestess of fashion publishing Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep).

         Their lives and fate collide again as Andy's downsized out of a job and Miranda's awash in a PR nightmare caused by her mag's flattering article on a fashion line just revealed to use child labor. 

         Streep's character is mostly de-fanged of her wicked verbal venom, so don't look for much fun in that department. The first film's snappy sarcastic sidekicks, played by Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt are allowed a few zingers here and there......but nothing to make this film worth watching. 

        The plot complications involve all manner of greedy corporate buccaneering with multiple takeovers attempted on Miranda's 'Runway' magazine and website.  Since the rest of us currently struggle with how to pay for gas and groceries, pardon us if we couldn't work up a whole lot of enthusiasm for watching the fate of millionaires hang in the balance.......

         For those who might derive some mild pleasures from watching Streep, Hathaway, Tucci and Blunt perform the same roles again, well then, here they are again....(all of them look like they're hardly aged.)

         But film itself is a dreary waste of time and leaves you wondering why they went to all the trouble to make it. We'd like to think it wasn't done purely as a rapacious cash grab......

          We'd like to think that, anyway. 

          1 & 1/2 stars...(*1/2)