
“It broke down like a Yugo.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz


One of the big jokes is the indifferent reaction to Mona’s death.

Mona’s sleazy widower Phil (William Fichtner), none to sadly philosophizes: “Well, it just goes to show — ya snooze, ya lose.” Phil is distinguished by his white trash look, sporting some mean looking mutton-chop sideburns and by his dullness in repartee that is dumber than dumb.

Phil’s mistress is the 33-year-old snappy diner waitress with the teased hair, Rona (Jamie Lee Curtis), whose comment to Phil about Mona’s demise is: “People like us never get so lucky.” She’s also having an affair with Jeff.

Mona’s only child, the idiotic and swinish Jeff, is someone who only wants to know: “What was she doing in my car?”

Ellie (Neve Campbell) is the police chief’s gutsy, adorable daughter and the bride-to-be of Jeff’s naïve but sensitive landscaping business partner Bobby Calzone (Casey Affleck). Ellie’s response to Mona’s death is “Let’s celebrate!” Bobby, on the other hand, only wonders what her father thinks about the accident.

To show how ugly Mona was, her hair is dyed with some wretched white coloring and she is shown in flashback interacting in a hostile way with everyone she comes into contact with. This doomed script and conventional direction venture for Nick Gomez (“New Jersey Drive“/”Laws of Gravity“), results in a comedy that got by with a few mean-spirited jokes. It broke down like a Yugo. It’s a movie that has an attitude problem it couldn’t resolve as easily as it did the mystery to Mona’s death. A solution that it comes up with, by the way, that was hardly believable.


Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”


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