To my surprise, I realized that I hadn't seen anything with Steve Martin in it since before I subscribed to Netflix nine years ago. Sure, he hasn't made any promising flicks in that time, but it's not like I'd seen all his older hits. And while Christopher Nolan casts Michael Caine too often, I usually like Caine otherwise, so his presence opposite Martin intrigued me.
The title is accurate: Both leads play con men. The key difference is that Lawrence (Caine) has made quite a niche for himself in the French Riviera, whereas Freddy is a new tourist who comes to want what Lawrence has. Not welcoming competition, Lawrence agrees to train Freddy as an accomplice; but before long, Freddy decides he doesn't like Lawrence's style. To settle the question of who leaves, they bet on who can first collect $50,000 from another American tourist, Janet (Glenne Headly, who does well enough that I wonder why I know so little of her work). When Lawrence, who does have ethical standards, hears that Janet isn't as rich as they thought, they change the bet to whether the rather smitten Freddy can romance her before she leaves.
If this had happened in real life and I were a savvy spectator, I'd sooner bet on Lawrence. It's his home turf, after all, and he knows a lot of people willing to help him out. (One of them is played by the only other actor in the film whose name I recognize, Ian McDiarmid.) But you know how fiction is with similarly despicable parties: Neither appears to be winning for long.
Like in The Pink Panther, the humor does not begin as quickly as I expected; and when it does, it's mostly in the presence of one character, in this case Freddy. It's also mostly the humor of liars trying to work around each other's lies, with a touch of sadism. (I for one am not equally amused by the compassionate naivety of their usually female marks.)
Frank Oz, who IMO has yet to direct a great movie, mentions in an accompanying short documentary that he doesn't know how to do comedy; he just hopes for the best. I can kinda see that, I'm afraid. There are certainly moments of satisfaction. Just seeing Martin with slicked-back hair was a nice change of pace, however fleeting. But I saw the main punchline coming a mile away, along with many of the little ones. Maybe it's more a comedy of its time.
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