prison and then turns into an obnoxious visitor posing as his lawyer and in our
next two segments we're going to look back at some of the biggest productions
of this summer season talking about some that worked some that didn't and why and
certainly seems like that one from the cable guy didn't much entertain
disappointed audiences who thought they were going to see another madcap Carrie
comedy like Ace Ventura and found themselves instead in a very dark and
moody story on the other hand here's Eddie Murphy who has disappointed his
share of audiences in recent years but is back with a terrific comedy called the
nutty professor anything I can get for you juice coffee rack of lamb the joke
is on Murphy's character in that scene but in this scene for the cable guy the
joke is on poor Matthew Broderick who thinks he'll never get rid of his new
friend from hell I gave you free cable what have you ever done for me anything
you want just name it quickly tomorrow night we hang out find anything you
want God bless you you're too good to me and they are in the nutty professor
Jada Pinkett plays the professor's girlfriend who gets invited over to
dinner and all of the adults in the professor's family are played in the
skies by Eddie Murphy ain't nothing wrong with having relations don't be
saying that relations is beautiful when I was young I'd always have relations
every night if a nice gentleman bring me flowers and candy tape me a movie show
me a lovely evening then I would take him home and give him hot lovely
relations relationship why does one of these comedies seem so right and the
other one seemed at least to me so wrong partly it's audience expectations
people don't want a depressing black comedy from Jim Carrey and they do want
slapstick and psych gags from Eddie Murphy but there's another reason too I
think generally speaking we identify with the lead of a movie when the lead
is the victim like Eddie Murphy is as Professor Sherman clump we sympathize
with him but when the lead is an obnoxious psychopath as the cable guy is
then we feel uneasy he's laughing but we're not laughing if audiences have a
choice they'd rather see themselves as the fall guy than the cable guy well
first of all the Eddie Murphy picture is wonderful and that I'm gonna put it in
one piece it's great I laughed all the time in that film as for the cable guy
I'm one of the few critics that actually liked the movie and let me try and
defend it this way although the third act gets a little over the top and he's
cruel and I mentioned that in my initial review I like the serious element in
this picture as well as the big laughs in the beginning and the serious element
is here is a character whose whole life comes out of television all of his
references the cable guy his names his aliases everything everything that he
talks about comes from television and he is cruel and he is mean and maybe what
this film is saying is that that what happened that's what happens when you
sit too close to the set yeah well Gene I think maybe you've described a nice
little million dollar picture that could have been made by people who had a
little statement that they wanted to make but I don't think that people are
really looking for Jim Carrey you're being audience centered I am being
audience centered that's what we're doing you're analyzing why one of these
don't know well why do you well that's not what you're doing but that's what
I'm doing and I'm analyzing I'm talking are not interested in going to see a
movie about an obnoxious depressing moody psychopath who does ugly and mean
and sadistic things for two hours in a movie well that they have been led and
Roger is going to be a comic and Roger the fact that the audience won't go with
these pictures does not mean as a critic that I change my standards no in any way
at all because I think it was a bad movie whether or not the other with him
coming up next continue our early summer recap a second look at the summer's
many big action pictures we'll pick the best so far next NBA from Harvard very
impressive thank you and your qualifications mr. mr. plots here you
go very impressive my resume no no your breath what the ultimate fresh breath
try breath sabers with its refreshingly cool minty core as I always say klutz
plots MBAs are a dime a dozen but a man with good breath now that's hard to find
breath sabers with the core of confidence 14 year old Max Connor is
about to meet a 5,000 year old she just won't go away
touchstone pictures presents Shaquille O'Neal summer movies mean action movies
and there have been five big ones so far this year including Independence Day
which we just reviewed negatively of the four others I like Eraser with Arnold
Schwarzenegger best it's a cleanly written story about a protector of
federal witnesses that offers first-rate gadgets special effects and a sense of
humor especially when Schwarzenegger and the witness he's protecting battle
thugs at a Manhattan Zoo
as for the others I also enjoyed Mission Impossible even though its story is
awfully hard to follow that we follow it at all is due to the absolute conviction
of Tom Cruise playing a character who is trying to protect government secret
files
hey that's two exploding aquariums in a row another action thriller The Rock
which features a fabulous performance by Nicolas Cage who has a lot of fun with
the often uptight action genre characters but The Rock wore me out
early with it literally non-stop action are you sure you're ready for this I do
my best your best losers always whine about their best yeah as for Twister
which came out way back in May my reaction was the universal one among
critics loved the special effects hated the goofy story what unifies my likes
and dislikes with the season action fair it comes down to basics I'm afraid to say
a good story and characters like those played by Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage
that's the thing that makes these pictures work we know them all down I
still can't understand why you didn't like The Rock and your theory that it
wore you out doesn't hold water because all of these movies are wall-to-wall
action and that one was too no no the Rock really is my favorite release for
let me tell you why it has to do with editing I'm telling you Roger that with
every camera shot every shot within a scene there's movement movement movement
it is exhausting to look at but you got used to it in the second hour got got
used to it no Nicolas Cage came on and had scenes with Connery where it was
quieter where he could talk and have fun in dialogue well I think they couldn't
clip up all of it I don't think maybe you you know subjectively were in some
kind of a mood no no first hour no no you were absolutely totally a blank
slate and Roger here's the proof that I'm a good critic I didn't shut off
totally from the picture and I like the second I always knew you were a good
critic I was wrong about the first hour of The Rock which is not very good
filmmaking and the movie as a whole is a very good film and you're wrong too
about Sean Connery he was very good in this film he's talking about Nicolas
Cage yeah it takes two to Nicholas Cage was doing something original Sean
Connery was being what he can do best and do it very well Sean Connery when we
come back a peek at 20 minutes of never-before-seen footage in the new
special edition of Oliver Stone's Nixon MBA from Harvard very impressive thank
you and your qualification is mr. mr. plots there you go very impressive my
resume no no your breath what the ultimate fresh breath try breath sabers
with its refreshingly cool and decor breath sabers the Nissan Altima has
always been built to compete with the quality and performance of sedans
costing thousands more so we think it should come as no surprise that JD Power
and Associates has ranked the Altima the best mid-sized car under $20,000 in
initial quality the Nissan Altima it doesn't just lead its class it redefines
it
I always use my favorite steak sauce it's tradition every once in a while I'm
in the mood something different something thick robust and hard
yeah all right new day one thick and hearty so guys who does the cooking on
this boat no cooking no cooking if you got back into port say late guys
everything about having breakfast for lunch or absolutely breakfast for
dinner absolutely that's that's my style you had an omelet that had steak in it
you know in the omelet steak omelet how does that sound that's a definitely an
original idea I tried that you know I hop serves breakfast all day long
sounds good to me that's good making me hungry what do you say we head over to
one loan one payment each month