Finally saw the movie. It's definitely one of those movies that I think starts off a little weak, then at a specific point starts getting good and never takes a wrong step from there until the ending. At the beginning, I felt Steve Martin was doing too much unfunny schtick...him beating up two thugs with his tennis racket and his ENDLESS 20 insult marathon of nose jokes really tried my patience. That's the risky thing about comedy sometimes. When you constantly throw jokes at people, the people who find it appealing to their sense of humour are going to have a blast, but the people who don't are just going to sit there uncomfortably watching stuff they know is supposed to make them laugh, but doesn't. Watching 20 jokes in a row, none of which were funny to me, wasn't very pleasant. But THEN, the movie really got into high gear once the story kicked in with the Cyrano material.
From the first scene with Martin coaching the Chris character from a van, I was hooked, as the laughs started coming hard and frequently. All the comedic elements and the romantic elements were right on target and I was impressed by how Martin could do so much slapstick stuff while keeping his character sympathetic (not just a clown). I noticed that a lot of the dialog was one-liners and witty remarks. This can be annoying and smack of a writer trying too hard or sounding too pleased with himself, but it worked here. Martin's writing was slick enough that his comebacks and humour playing off subversion of audience expectations worked like a charm on me.
That wasn't surprising, as I was already a fan of Martin from other movies he made during the same period. What did surprise me was how gifted he proved to be as a physical comedian. I was caught off guard by how spry he was, with his stunts involving climbing up houses and roofs. He was almost like a modern day Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton at times (something I feel Robert Benigni was trying to do not as successfully in "Life is Beautiful"). The running gag with his incompetent fire department was another welcome source of good physical humour. I found the nose distracting at first, but it didn't take long for me to get used to it, so I could enjoy the movie without being too bothered by it.
I knew he was a romantic guy based on "L.A. Story" and "Shopgirl", but I was still blown away by how beautiful some of Martin's romantic writing was in this. I could totally understand why the Daryl Hannah character swooned when he sweet talked her outside her window, and when he read that line at the end comparing seeing her to closing his eyes after looking at the sun, I was like, "DAMN". I think even I would want to make love to him after words like those. 
Rick Rossovich did a splendid job as the other part of the love triangle as well. Pity his career didn't seem to go anywhere after this movie. At least he had one role that he was perfect for and really nailed. He had solid comedic timing and I could empathize with his character as much as Martin. In different ways, he and Martin both lacked confidence when it came to women, and this made them both so easy to relate to. Fortunately, I've never actually been driven to puke by nervousness. I did, however, run away terrified at the sight of a beauty many times in my youth. The set up of two men having the same romantic interest without actually competing with each other gave the story a neat, unique dynamic too. I'm glad they both got the right girl for themselves by the end. The movie was just a really perfect marriage of great concept/premise with some excellent Steve Martin comedic/romantic insight, perspective, and style.
Edited by Naisu Baddi - 7/11/11 at 8:41pm
