The Wrong Guy is a lot like a broken clock. Just as a busted timepiece is still right twice a day, there are enough honest-to-goodness funny people involved in this movie that it can't help but occasionally veer into comedic territory. And just as you can't rely on a stopped watch to tell you what time it is, you'll be sorely disappointed if you expect this film to consistently keep you laughing.
Nelson Hibbert (Dave Foley) is a soulless young man working his way up the corporate ladder by marrying his boss' daughter. When even that isn't enough to get himself named the next president of the company, Nelson explodes in impotent rage and babbles about his boss being dead to him. Someone else actually does kill his boss and Nelson, in a mostly unfunny way, winds up with blood all over him and the murder weapon in his hand. Thinking he must be the prime suspect, Nelson goes on the lam. He's the only one who thinks the cops are after him, though, because the police actually have video tape of the real killer.
A mistaken fugitive, Nelson incompetently flees for Mexico only to constantly run into the real murderer (Colm Feore) while the apathetic and opportunistic Detective Arlen (David Anthony Higgins) leads an investigation that makes the Keystone Cops look like the folks from CSI (pick any one). Nelson eventually winds up in a small town, falling in love with a beautiful woman (Jennifer Tilly) and doing some remarkably unfunny scenes with SCTV's Joe Flaherty as her father. The killer catches up with Nelson, the police catch up with them both and blah, blah, blah.
I honestly laughed out loud at a few moments of The Wrong Guy, was mildly amused by a few others and liked the premise of handful more. For the most part, though, this mix of thriller parody and sketch comedy absurdity is lazy, self indulgent and has all the comedic timing of a sumo wrestler in a vat of molasses. Given some of the creative people involved in this production, it's remarkable how often this movie reaches for humor and falls pathetically short. If The Wrong Guy was a baseball player, he'd have a sub .200 batting average. What's especially aggravating, though, is that when this film does make contact, it hits the ball a long way. A gag involving a picket fence and how Nelson tries to return the murder weapon after picking it up are hilarious and some shtick involving the killer's overly complicated getaway plan and a ruthless farmer threatening to foreclose on his banker are really clever. Those brief flashes of fun are simply buried under an avalanche of jokes that either start nowhere, go nowhere or end up nowhere.
I called this movie lazy and let me give you an example of how creative sloth really characterizes this whole thing. At the start of the story, Nelson erupts furiously when he finds out he's not going to be the next company president. He's completely confident of that because his boss/future father-in-law TOLD him he was going to be the next president. What does his boss/future father-in-law say to Nelson when he give the job to someone else? "I lied." That's it. That's all. Why would he lie? Why would he have to lie or even want to lie to Nelson? There's no reason or explanation because these filmmakers don't care or think it's important to build their humor on anything real. You can get away with that attitude toward storytelling if you really bring the funny, but The Wrong Guy left the funny in his other pants.
If you've got a high tolerance for lame attempts at humor, you might enjoy the momentary sparks in this otherwise wet pile of kindling. For most people, watching The Wrong Guy would be the wrong choice.
Nelson Hibbert (Dave Foley) is a soulless young man working his way up the corporate ladder by marrying his boss' daughter. When even that isn't enough to get himself named the next president of the company, Nelson explodes in impotent rage and babbles about his boss being dead to him. Someone else actually does kill his boss and Nelson, in a mostly unfunny way, winds up with blood all over him and the murder weapon in his hand. Thinking he must be the prime suspect, Nelson goes on the lam. He's the only one who thinks the cops are after him, though, because the police actually have video tape of the real killer.
A mistaken fugitive, Nelson incompetently flees for Mexico only to constantly run into the real murderer (Colm Feore) while the apathetic and opportunistic Detective Arlen (David Anthony Higgins) leads an investigation that makes the Keystone Cops look like the folks from CSI (pick any one). Nelson eventually winds up in a small town, falling in love with a beautiful woman (Jennifer Tilly) and doing some remarkably unfunny scenes with SCTV's Joe Flaherty as her father. The killer catches up with Nelson, the police catch up with them both and blah, blah, blah.
I honestly laughed out loud at a few moments of The Wrong Guy, was mildly amused by a few others and liked the premise of handful more. For the most part, though, this mix of thriller parody and sketch comedy absurdity is lazy, self indulgent and has all the comedic timing of a sumo wrestler in a vat of molasses. Given some of the creative people involved in this production, it's remarkable how often this movie reaches for humor and falls pathetically short. If The Wrong Guy was a baseball player, he'd have a sub .200 batting average. What's especially aggravating, though, is that when this film does make contact, it hits the ball a long way. A gag involving a picket fence and how Nelson tries to return the murder weapon after picking it up are hilarious and some shtick involving the killer's overly complicated getaway plan and a ruthless farmer threatening to foreclose on his banker are really clever. Those brief flashes of fun are simply buried under an avalanche of jokes that either start nowhere, go nowhere or end up nowhere.
I called this movie lazy and let me give you an example of how creative sloth really characterizes this whole thing. At the start of the story, Nelson erupts furiously when he finds out he's not going to be the next company president. He's completely confident of that because his boss/future father-in-law TOLD him he was going to be the next president. What does his boss/future father-in-law say to Nelson when he give the job to someone else? "I lied." That's it. That's all. Why would he lie? Why would he have to lie or even want to lie to Nelson? There's no reason or explanation because these filmmakers don't care or think it's important to build their humor on anything real. You can get away with that attitude toward storytelling if you really bring the funny, but The Wrong Guy left the funny in his other pants.
If you've got a high tolerance for lame attempts at humor, you might enjoy the momentary sparks in this otherwise wet pile of kindling. For most people, watching The Wrong Guy would be the wrong choice.