Rating of
2.5/4
Some good chuckles with a good cast
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/02/08
Actor "Jack Noah" (Richard Dreyfuss) is finally home, and bumps into a couple of friends. He tells him an unbelievable story where he was basically forced into taking the place of the "Parador" (played by various cities in Brazil) dictator, "President Alphonse Simms" (also played by Dreyfuss at the start of the movie), who had died of a heart attack.
He discusses how he was taught the mannerisms and other important information by the President's right-hand man, "Roberto Strausmann" (Raul Julia), who is secretly undermining the President.
With help from the dead "President's" mistress "Madonna Mendez" (Sonia Braga), he begins to change the dictator's public image slowly, which pretty much upsets "Strausman".
I have to day that this movie has some good chuckles, but not full of gut-busting laughs. A lot of the laughs are one-liners as "Noah" is trying to keep the fact that he is not the president from the good people of "Parador", who live in poverty the likes he has never seen. There were some missed opportunities though.
In one scene, the kitchen staff has a sneaking suspicions that "Noah" is not the president. This is the only time in the entire movie that we see them talk about this. We don't see any other sign of them trying to prove their suspicions, even if it's just for themselves. I would also liked to have seen more scenes with Charro, who plays the president's maid. She could have provided some fair laughs with her trademark energy which causes her to talk at a fast rate making her almost completely incomprehensible because of her accent. Her energy could have also brought some laughs with any of the performers who could have kept up with her.
Julia does a pretty good job as the villain, but I think that his true intentions should have been explored a bit more. It is pretty obvious that he is the true dictator with the late president as window dressing for him.
Two other cast members which were under used was Jonathan Winters and Sammy Davis, Jr., who plays himself in a couple of scenes. Both have played comedic roles and could have done a good job if their roles were expanded. Winters was one of the few actors who could keep up with Robin Williams (both worked as father and son on the US television series "Mork and Mindy", with the younger Williams as the father). If Winters was allowed to go for it, he would have been pretty funny in his scenes.
Dreyfuss and Braga had some fair on-screen chemistry in their scenes, but I felt that they could have been a bit better. Their on-screen romance wasn't really launched correctly in my opinion either. We hear "Noah", in voiceover telling the story to his friends, explain that he was falling for "Mendez", but we never really see it in the particular scene that was playing out under the voiceover.
The music was pretty boring in this film. We hear some local Brazilian music, which is fair, but the "Parador" National Anthem is not great, especially when Davis sings it.
If you are looking for a movie that is filled with laughs, I can't suggest this one. However, it's not that bad, with some fairly good laughs and a pretty good cast. I probably would say that you should catch this on HBO or another movie channel and save your money for something you want to rent.
