Rating of
2.5/4
Not very comical, but has a touching story
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/02/08
"Joe" (the late Richard Pryor) is a foulmouth con man/thief who has been in trouble with the law in the past for most of his life. When he gets arrested again, he is brought in front of a judge (Bill Quinn) and is assigned community service.
He is assigned as a bus driver for special needs students and their teacher (Cicely Tyson), who is taking the students, who the community has shunned, from Philadelphia to a farm in Washington state.
At first, "Joe" is not happy with his situation and does not like what he has been forced into. However, he slowly learns that there is more to life then himself.
The first thing you'd expect from a Richard Pryor movie is jokes laced with four-letter words. There is that, but they basically stop about half-way through the movie. Pryor keeps the laughs going, but they aren't side-splitting jokes. Many of the jokes, in fact, only produce some good chuckles.
There are some good performances in the cast. And, as "Joe" begins to warm up to the kids, you get to see some fair chemistry between them and Pryor. In fact, Pryor's performance is probably the best. "Joe" starts off as a street-wise punk, but slowly becomes a loving man who now knows there are people in more need than he. Pryor shows off the transformation really well. Tyson does a good job herself, and has pretty good chemistry with Pryor and especially the children. To me, it looks as if Pryor and Tyson took time to get to know their young co-stars and began to care for them to the point that they brought that to the screen.
If you ask me, the music is not great. The movie was released in the early 1980's, but sounds like pop from a decade earlier. The music, with the theme song sung by Roberta Flack, is not memorable. The theme song, which you hear a few times during the film, is not even catchy. If the theme song was released today, I can pretty much guarantee it wouldn't chart on Billboard.
The wardrobes are typical for the time the movie was released, and nothing really stands out. It is a trip to see the clothing of when I was 10 though.
I personally wouldn't put it in my Top 10 "Must See" movies, but I would probably put it somewhere on the low side of my Top 5 choices for rent if my first movie wasn't available.
