Screwed Review
by Susan Granger (Ssg722 AT aol DOT com)May 14th, 2000
http://www.speakers-podium.com/susangranger.
Susan Granger's review of "SCREWED" (Universal Pictures)
"Screwed" sneaked into our local theaters without advance screenings for critics - and screwed is how you'll feel if you inadvertently pay at the ticket counter. Stand-up comic Norm Macdonald plays Willard Fillmore, a mild-mannered servant who works for nasty Virginia Crock, a wealthy Pittsburgh bakery owner played by Elaine Stritch. Understandably bitter - since he has to scrub her dentures along with her toilets and cars - and egged on by his best buddy, Dave Chappelle, he decides to kidnap her beloved, yappy, mean-tempered lap dog for $1 million ransom and flee to the Caribbean. But, of course, their contrived, chaotic plan backfires. None of this is funny - particularly Danny DeVito as a creepy, degenerate coroner. And Norm Macdonald is amazingly inept; he cannot act - period. Written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski before "Ed Wood," "The People vs. Larry Flynt," and "Man on the Moon," it serves as their directorial debut. Perhaps that's understandable since they also collaborated on the sloppy scripting of "Problem Child." On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Screwed" is a wretched, idiotic 1. Hard to believe, but it's worse than "Battlefield Earth."
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
