I'm a fan of nearly all of Michael Keaton's movie work. He's an excellent and well roused actor who can do both comedy and drama in equal measures of greatness. I've got nothing against either Meg Ryan or Matthew Modine as they played the roles they were given as directed. I despise their characters on nearly every level. The blatant stupidity of Modine's character and the near 'magical' investigatory skills of Ryan's character. I also think the so-called realistic BS premise that 'the black guy never gets fair treatment by white people' was totally uncalled for and could have been handled much better with the exact same characters.
Another thing I've noticed from reading many reviews of this film both good and bad, was the total disregard for the relationship and character of Beverly D'Angelo's character we see in the opening of the film, then as Meg finds her through that magical investigation into who Keaton's character really is. Not one mentions how D'Angelo is just like Keaton's character and how the opening scene showed Keaton's character setting up D'Angelo's husband as the sucker who beats Keaton nearly to death which allows Keaton to sue and either get the property he was in, or some other type of large settlement for being 'seemingly' beaten without cause. It's not stated, but it's clearly implied that D'Anglelo shares in his scheme and profit. She's just as ruthless and a sociopath as much as Keaton's character is.
I used to rent rooms/homes to people back in NJ where I'm originally from between 1984 - 1995. I KNOW the laws shown in the movie are 100% accurate and true based on the situation shown. Before the word being used, it used to be called 'Squatters Rights' which protect anyone who takes possession of a room or home. It was meant to PREVENT landlords from being unreasonable to their tenants. However, like most once positive things such as 'Workers Unions', the laws have NEVER been amended and now make the landlords more open to abuse if the landlords happen to stupid like Modine's character certainly is.
The law (at least in Florida I'm certain of) now states that any landlord can evict any tenant for ANY reason and give ONLY 30 days notice in writing. If the tenant has not left the property in good condition, the landlord can sue for monies spent to return the same place back to the condition it was in at time of tenants possession. Must have photos of space before renting date stamped and preferably notarized. PLUS, if tenant is not gone within the 30 days, the landlord can call the police to physically remove the tenant(s) without their belongings which would need to removed and given back to the tenant IF it isn't being held as collateral for any damages during the time the tenant was in possession.
How Keaton does what he does isn't the point. It's two fold in my opinion. First it shows how careful you need to be about who your rent to and how to handle any problems. Secondly, Keaton's character does what he does because he ENJOYS CAUSING OTHERS TO SUFFER WHILE HE GETS REWARDED BY THE LEGAL SYSTEM knowing that if he pushes his 'marks' just the right way, they will do something illegal HE can call the police about. As one reviewer said...I'd just kill him and tell the police "I thought he was an intruder breaking in." If done correctly, this would work according to the legal system.
If this movie should ever be remade, I can only hope the writers & director come up with a better script. But after what happened in 2008 with the mortgage bond fraud that nearly caused the entire planet to become bankrupt, I highly doubt Hollywood would even think of stirring ANYTHING having to do with real estate and how the laws are all out of whack.
I hope this review of the movie sheds more light on the subject of this film as well as some major bits seemingly ignored or missed by those who also posted reviews.
Another thing I've noticed from reading many reviews of this film both good and bad, was the total disregard for the relationship and character of Beverly D'Angelo's character we see in the opening of the film, then as Meg finds her through that magical investigation into who Keaton's character really is. Not one mentions how D'Angelo is just like Keaton's character and how the opening scene showed Keaton's character setting up D'Angelo's husband as the sucker who beats Keaton nearly to death which allows Keaton to sue and either get the property he was in, or some other type of large settlement for being 'seemingly' beaten without cause. It's not stated, but it's clearly implied that D'Anglelo shares in his scheme and profit. She's just as ruthless and a sociopath as much as Keaton's character is.
I used to rent rooms/homes to people back in NJ where I'm originally from between 1984 - 1995. I KNOW the laws shown in the movie are 100% accurate and true based on the situation shown. Before the word being used, it used to be called 'Squatters Rights' which protect anyone who takes possession of a room or home. It was meant to PREVENT landlords from being unreasonable to their tenants. However, like most once positive things such as 'Workers Unions', the laws have NEVER been amended and now make the landlords more open to abuse if the landlords happen to stupid like Modine's character certainly is.
The law (at least in Florida I'm certain of) now states that any landlord can evict any tenant for ANY reason and give ONLY 30 days notice in writing. If the tenant has not left the property in good condition, the landlord can sue for monies spent to return the same place back to the condition it was in at time of tenants possession. Must have photos of space before renting date stamped and preferably notarized. PLUS, if tenant is not gone within the 30 days, the landlord can call the police to physically remove the tenant(s) without their belongings which would need to removed and given back to the tenant IF it isn't being held as collateral for any damages during the time the tenant was in possession.
How Keaton does what he does isn't the point. It's two fold in my opinion. First it shows how careful you need to be about who your rent to and how to handle any problems. Secondly, Keaton's character does what he does because he ENJOYS CAUSING OTHERS TO SUFFER WHILE HE GETS REWARDED BY THE LEGAL SYSTEM knowing that if he pushes his 'marks' just the right way, they will do something illegal HE can call the police about. As one reviewer said...I'd just kill him and tell the police "I thought he was an intruder breaking in." If done correctly, this would work according to the legal system.
If this movie should ever be remade, I can only hope the writers & director come up with a better script. But after what happened in 2008 with the mortgage bond fraud that nearly caused the entire planet to become bankrupt, I highly doubt Hollywood would even think of stirring ANYTHING having to do with real estate and how the laws are all out of whack.
I hope this review of the movie sheds more light on the subject of this film as well as some major bits seemingly ignored or missed by those who also posted reviews.