Review of All of Me

Introduction

For a while in the Eighties, Steve Martin seemed the saviour of film comedy. Equally at home as a romantic leading man (Roxanne) or as a wild and crazeee guy (The Jerk), Martin was versatile and intelligent. While he made some great films and gained critical acclaim, audiences in general didn’t seem to fully warm to him. Maybe he was too cerebral or too quirky. L.A. Story was both and bombed. Anyway, after a promising collection of comedy treasures (The Jerk, Dead Men Don`t Wear Plaid and The Man with Two Brains, All of Me and Roxanne, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Martin seemed to destined to be a bit of a has-been until he returned to form with Bowfinger.

Sitting somewhere between the craziness of The Jerk and the romanticism of Roxanne, All of Me is one of Martin’s classics and well deserving of a DVD release.

The plot is an ingenious showcase for Martin’s style of visual, physical comedy.

Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin) is rich, spoilt and dying. Before she passes on, she plans to transfer her spirit into the body of Terry, the innocent and youthful daughter of her stable hand. Roger Cobb (Martin) is a lawyer and frustrated Jazz guitarist. He is assigned to manage Edwina’s estate. Through a series of mishaps, Edwina’s spirit happens to find itself sharing Roger’s body rather than Terry’s. Needless to say, Roger isn’t happy about this state of affairs. Terry, on the other hand, is, being nowhere near as innocent as she seems and was only playing along to get her hands on Edwina’s money.

Video

The video quality is average at best. You get a bog standard 4:3 transfer and, while the image is generally free of any noticeable defects, it is dark and muted. I’m not sure whether this is the result of a bad transfer or the original source.

There is little of note in the cinematography. It isn’t inventive but it doesn’t need to be; it just has to keep Steve Martin centre stage. It does this just fine. As I say, average.

Audio

Presented in straight DD 2.0 stereo (understandable for a 1984 film), the sound is adequate for a character driven comedy. While most scenes sound underwhelming, those showcasing Patrick Williams’ pretty jazz score sound surprisingly good. The sound is expansive and bass is remarkably well defined. Given this, it is surprising that the rest of the sound is lacklustre.

Features

None apart from a fairly dull trailer which has appalling sound. The static menu is pretty dull too.

Conclusion

In many ways, All of Me harks back to the great screwball comedies of the Thirties, like Bringing Up Baby and Arsenic and Old Lace, although it’ll never quite reach the same classic status. Still, it stands on it’s own merits as an ingenious and often very funny film.

The main attraction is Steve Martin who puts his mastery of physical comedy to great use. The funniest scenes are those where Martin tries to show us how a prissy female and red-blooded male could (or couldn’t) share the same body. Sure, some of the jokes are obvious (there is the obligatory urinal scene) but they’re still funny.

The script is both funny and subtly clever. It make a number of good points about identity and gender but you’ll probably be laughing too hard to notice them first time round.

Carl Reiner (Rob’s father) directs well. Both Martin and Tomlin are excellent, although most of the screen time is given to Martin. The supporting cast is excellent as well especially Richard Libertini as a gormless swami.

If you are looking for a classy comedy, this fits the bill perfectly. It’s just a shame that the DVD isn’t richer. This is a film is crying out for a commentary.