Just perfect...

An Exercise In Nonsense

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

"He's in conference with Miss Cutwater, also with her doctor, her nurse, Mr Mifflin, an English girl with no bra and a Hindu holding a bedpan on a stick. I don't think you should go in there." And with that little speech from receptionist Selma Diamond, All of Me finally gets going. The plot, somewhat reminiscent of I Married a Witch, sees friendless, dying millionairess Lily Tomlin enlisting a Swami with a poor grasp of English to transfer her soul to a sparky young blonde (Victoria Tennant). As you might imagine, the plan gets botched, and Tomlin's griping newly-dead becomes housed in the body of unhappy lawyer Steve Martin - whose soul is in there as well.The first 20 minutes are pretty dry, but once Diamond starts drolly lecturing, Dana Elcar begins two-facedly badmouthing his wealthiest client and Martin takes to bickering with 'himself', it settles into a fun - if unexceptional - groove. There's one absolute gem of a sequence in a courtroom, which is set-up with panache and expert timing and builds to a dizzyingly absurd climax. The rest of the film skirts by on the talents of Martin - very good and indulging his fondness for outlandish physical comedy - and Tomlin, with her Kate Hepburn-ish delivery. I rather like Tennant as a romantic lead, too, and her line: "I love it when you talk like a beer commercial."

You know that something is inherently wrong here when the best part of the film comes at the very end, when the credits are rolling on screen and Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin are dancing away as they play and sing All of Me.The plot is ridiculous. Wealthy but ailing Tomlin is forever dying and does just that at her lawyer's office. She had some Indian guru in a plot to bring her sole to her stable hand's daughter, aptly played by Victoria Tennant. Tennant is supposedly a sweet young lady but turns the table on everyone when she turns utterly vicious and has no intentions of assuming Tomlin in her. Accidentally, Tomlin lands in the body of lawyer-musician Martin. Martin walks around like Richard III and talks like both a man and woman.There are some funny scenes, especially the court one. The ending seems to come quickly and is ridiculous just as most of the picture is.

Amusing Steve Martin romp from his early golden era (which stopped for me abruptly at the super-schmaltzy "Parenthood") which while it raises a lot of smiles and, yes, a few belly laughs, misses out on the hurt-your-sides invocations of "Roxanne" and especially "The Man With Two Brains" Here Steve surrenders himself to the most ludicrous plot since, well, "The Man With Two Brains" and has a ball particularly with the physical humour of the piece (I'm sure you can imagine). Perhaps the reason it doesn't quite match up to "Brains" is that the verbal humour is less dexterous, possibly attributable to the fact that Martin wasn't the writer of the piece. That said, there are funny scenes a plenty, particularly the courtroom scene where Edwina takes over and the first bedroom scene with Victoria Tennent (again where Edwina takes over!). Lily Tomlin, whilst less funny with the physical humour (not unnaturally given that most of her scenes are played reflected in mirrors of various shapes and sizes) is a fine comic foil for our hero, although you never really doubt that she has a heart of gold underneath her cold heart exterior. After literally, all the horse-play is over, they all end up happily ever after and he gets the girl, as so many of Martin's early comedies do, no doubt deliberately reminiscent of course of the early B & W comedies of Chaplin, Keaton etc. What a shame he got serious in his older age (c.f. Woody Allen). Give me obvious laugh-fests like this any day, especially thinking of some of the turkeys he's served up in the last few years...

While based on a ridiculous premise (from Edwin Davis' novel), "All of Me" is still a very funny film thanks to some genuinely funny comedy and clever performances.Steve Martin is a frustrated lawyer who is at the end of his tether when the unthinkable happens, he is forced to share his body with the soul of a late, rich and obnoxious client (Lily Tomlin). Martin's manic performance is hilarious, and along with a good supporting cast, they all put on a very likable show. There's not much more to this Carl Reiner film (one of a few he teamed up with Steve Martin to do), but the laughs should certainly be enough. Also starred Victoria Tennant.Tuesday, January 5, 1993 - Video