Burt Reynolds throws himself in front of and behind the camera in this 1978 gem of a comedy. Not the best comedy that year, but far from the worse. Reynolds may have bit off more than he could chew by directing and acting all in one, but the final product was funny enough for cinemas. Still, without Dom DeLuise, this movie would be far from watchable. It is DeLuise that saves this movie. At sometimes dark, The End mixes mild comedy which delivers this Woody Allen (who wrote the original script) type story. DeLuise is nothing but brilliant as the lovable, yet crazy friend of Reynolds. This movie is nothing but fun. Not the best movie, but a nice story with an interesting cast of characters. However, if this movie was re-edited the movie would have been better told. The movie changes once Dom DeLuise is introduced. The first half of the movie has its funny moments, but it is not until the second half do we start to truly laugh. A better Editor could have saved this movie by cutting the timeline up to have most of the first half as a flash back. For starters, I would have started the movie at the half way point where we find Reynolds waking up from attempted suicide. Then have his character going back in time to reflect on what occurred following up to his arrival in the nut house. That way, we could welcome Deluise earlier to the movie and give the Reynolds character more of an appreciated back story before we arrive at the central transition. Before Reynolds arrives to the beach, i would have his final flashback be of his daughter where we get to the climax of his final decision. All in all, a good movie worth watching.
Review of The End
