John Brooks
Billy Crystal and two pals star as the 'city slickers'. Urban East Coast folk tired with their lives looking to give them some meaning by winning the western wilderness. During their adventure, they're confronted by events and stuff that make them find their true natural selves.Sounds good on paper. But it isn't, really. It starts off fairly funny, but then replaces the funny with pure plot and morality, which aren't anything more than mediocre in quality.And the only real broader moral at the end really is: "if you're spoiled city scum, go hit some dirt and ride a horse for a week without your family and you'll return a refreshed husband and parent for about as long".5/10.
pesic-1
I loved this thing as a kid. Loved it. Even the sequel. But that was the young me, the teenage me, the still stuck in the 80s me, the me who'd rent a movie every single day on VHS and watch any old 80s crap, whether it involved Steve Guttenberg, Bobcat Goldthwait, Eddie Murphy, or Billy Crystal.Oh dear, has this movie aged badly. And how about Billy Crystal? He is still doing an incredibly bad impression of Woody Allen, just as he did in 'When Harry Met Sally'. But he's not funny when he whines, just incredibly annoying, not to mention dishonest. I am not buying his whining the way I buy Allen's. That was the first thing that struck me as watched this film again, more than 20 years after the first time I saw it. There is nothing really funny in this film. The ice cream fatso? The irritating high-energy sidekick? The insecure, slightly dumb, introverted sidekick? Oh, what a motley crew it is, conflicts between these personalities is guaranteed to result in funny scenes, right? Fat chance.See, the best thing about this movie has always been that gritty old cowboy, and that's the only redeeming feature of this film. Take that away and you have a film that makes you want to commit suicide. That's how boring, predictable, and outright irritating it is. And just how easily manipulated were we to enjoy that cheap crap about a little calf? Please. Oh, one more thing: Is Crystal meant to learn something during this film? I certainly didn't. And neither did he, but let's pretend we all did. Audiences back then certainly didn't care about anything - not that we are any better today, mind you. We are so cynical that we don't even pretend to care about love and the meaning of life.I'm giving this film one star. I do not like it in any way.
namashi_1
'City Slickers' is A Wholesome Entertainer, that is indeed an American classic from 1991. A lovely comedy, that is also about friendship & maturity. The first-rate performances only add to the film's greatness.'City Slickers' Synopsis: On the verge of turning 40, an unhappy Manhattan yuppie is roped into joining his two friends on a cattle drive in the southwest.'City Slickers' is a complete joyride. Its a funny film, treated lightly & quietly. Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel's Screenplay focuses primarily on comedy, but also covers themes of friendship & maturity. Its wonderfully written! Ron Underwood's Direction is absolutely fantastic, churning out a worthy story with such perfection. Cinematography captures the wilderness, amazingly. Editing could've been sharper. Performance-Wise: Billy Crystal is a delight, a true genius. He's exemplary! The Late/Great Jack Palance, in an Oscar-Winning Performance, is restrained. Daniel Stern is fabulous. The Late/Great Bruno Kirby is effective. Patricia Wettig is very sincere. Helen Slater is decent. David Paymer & Josh Mostel are crazy.On the whole, 'City Slickers' is so much fun!
Robert J. Maxwell
Billy Crystal is a nice suburban guy -- loving husband and father -- but it's his birthday and it precipitates a mid-life crisis of the ontological type. "What's it all about?" A somewhat reckless friend, Bruno Kirby, convinces Crystal and the equally stodgy Daniel Stern that they all need to live in the unfolding moment. Running the bulls in Pamplona doesn't work so the three of them sign up for a summer's job at a working cattle ranch run by the sympathetic but earthy Jack Palance as Curly.The three aging boys are working with a bunch of other city slickers, including Helen Slater, who is there chiefly to prove that the guys are heterosexual. Everyone undergoes what people call "learning experiences" when they happen to someone else, and "humiliations" when it happens to themselves. There's grappling, insults, a stampede, and a death that results in a burial under a crude wooden cross in the middle of the scruffy desert. That's Curly's grave. But his spirit guides them the rest of the way as they move the cattle through the wilderness and grow up. It was done before in a more serious vein in "John Wayne and the Cowboys." But this is a family movie and not to be taken so seriously. No matter how absurd or dangerous the situation, the script provides the city slickers with wisecracks and funny expressions.Palance is good. He almost always is. And Bruno Kirby and Billy Crystal are convincing, though not all of the jokes sparkle. There's a cute calf modeled on Bambi. Ugh. I rather lost interest with Curly's demise but it ought to entertain the kids and those who are undergoing mid-life crises. It must have been successful at the box office because a sequel soon appeared, hampered by the fact that Curly, the central figure, was already dead.
AD
