Director: Ron Underwood
Writer: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel (Screenplay)
Starring: Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby, Patricia Wettig, Helen Slater, Jack Palance, Noble Willingham
Plot: On the verge of turning 40, an unhappy Manhattan yuppie is roped into joining his two friends on a cattle drive in the southwest.
Tagline – Yesterday They Were Businessmen. Today They’re Cowboys. Tomorrow They’ll Be Walking Funny.
Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Nice Little Comedy
Story: City Slickers starts as three 40-year-olds Mitch (Crystal), Phil (Stern) and Ed (Kirby) have been spending years going on adventure holidays together with their families. Mitch however is getting tired of his everyday life in New York City where he believes he should have done more with his life and for his birthday, Phil and Ed get him a special present.
The three are going on a boys holiday in a cattle drive across the south, one which will bring them back to nature and learn to find a new lust for life, while Phil must decide about his future after being caught teaching on his wife.
Thoughts on City Slickers
Characters – Mitch is the one of the three who has been having the biggest mid-life crisis, he has always worried and now he has seen him career take a turn he wasn’t prepared for, he gets sent on the cattle drive which would have given him a chance to reconnect with nature for the first time. Phil has been stuck in a marriage where he is controlled, he works horrible hours and gets caught out cheating on his wife, left with nothing, he starts to stand up for himself when it comes to facing a future with nothing in it. Ed has always been a womaniser, he has just got married though, which sees him wondering if it was the right thing to do. The three have always been there for each other and now they are finally needing to talk to each other about the problems they kept secret.
Performances – Billy Crystal in the leading role of the three does bring his charm, while some of his comedy might well miss or feel like it is all pop culture references, he works wonderfully well with Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby, the three each get a moment to shine and have great chemistry together.
Story – The story here follows the three lifelong friends that have been vacationing together for years and now after starting to worry about their own futures, get to go on a boys trip on a cattle run, where they can final start to see just what the future might hold for them. This is a story that for the 90’s would have translated to everything that people get caught up in during life, but when you look at the more model society, the friendship would be a lot closer with the technology use. With this story we do get an interesting look at what people might find a happiness in life, in a world they would never have imagined.
Comedy – The comedy in the film comes from Billy Crystal trying to bring his wise cracking lines forward during most of the scenes, it doesn’t always work either.
Settings – The film is set in the South of America which would see cowboys and cattle drives happening, the backdrops could be from any western too.
Scene of the Movie – The birth.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The witty lines just don’t work.
Final Thoughts – This is a comedy that focuses on friendship and finding the reality of life, it does show how the three friends must learn they are just getting started in life.
Overall: Life’s an Adventure 101.
