Switching Channels (1988) Call me an old softie, but I really grow nostalgic for these breezy 1980's romcoms that made strenuous efforts to replicate the rapid fire, screwball comedies that first flourished 1930's and early 1940's Hollywood.
As much as I still enjoy this one, I couldn't help wishing it had been a little less frantic and little more funnier in its execution.
And speaking of execution, it's the fourth film version of the Ben Hecht/Charles MacArthur comedy "The Front Page", about frenzied-for-a-scoop Chicago reporters who harbor an escaped death row inmate for their big story.
Updated for the dawn of cable news, the movie sets a furious pace for the three lead characters.....an always news hungry satellite news editor-in-chief (Burt Reynolds), his exhausted ace reporter and ex-wife (Kathleen Turner) and her wealthy, new, impossibly handsome fiance (Christopher Reeve) who promises to whisk her away from the craziness of chasing breaking news.
Sly dog Reynolds, desperately scheming to thwart Turner's engagement to the too perfectly dashing Reeve, tempts her back into the journalistic fray with a story she can't resist covering..... the upcoming capital punishment of a hapless shlub (Henry Gibson) for shooting a drug-dealing police officer who caused the death of the shlub's beloved younger brother.
Gibson's due for a sit-down in the electric chair after a railroaded conviction orchestrated by a corrupt state Attorney General (Ned Beatty). And Beatty's pinned his phony law 'n order candidacy for Governor on frying Gibson prior to the election.
Following the trajectory of all other "Front Page" movies, Gibson somehow manages a daring escape (in this version, in the midst of his live, televised execution). And then Turner And Reynolds somehow manage to hide the physically slight fugitive in the smallest space imaginable (in this version, instead of a rolltop desk, he's inside Xerox machine.)
The cast here is certainly game and more than up for all the hyper running around, but the script mostly lacks the genuine verbal snap required to match their exertions. But a few moments do shine, such as Reynolds sending out one of his underlings to kick a massive satellite dish that's causing a fuzzy picture.
And let's hear it for the late great Reeve, stuck in cinema's most thankless role - the destined-to-be-rejected third wheel in a romantic triangle. He has some fearless good sport fun spoofing his "Superman" persona when his supremely self-assured character suffers an acrophobic panic attack inside a high rise atrium glass elevator. Yes, it's Superman, prone on the floor, screaming for his mommy.
Overall, a mildly 3 star (***) fun watch, especially if you're fans of any of the three leads... but take note, movie purists - .for the very best movie version of "Front Page", don't miss also checking out Howard Hawks' 1940 "His Girl Friday" with Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy in the Reynolds, Turner and Reeve roles.
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