Oscar (1991) * *

Directed by:  John Landis

Starring:  Sylvester Stallone, Peter Riegert, Chazz Palmintieri, Marisa Tomei, Ornella Muti, Vincent Spano, Tim Curry, Don Ameche, Kurtwood Smith, Kirk Douglas, Elizabeth Barondes, Ken Howard, William Atherton, Linda Gray, Mark Metcalf

The actors in Oscar give it their all.   The film has the look and feel of a 1930's screwball romantic comedy, but not the laughs.    It strains for yuks and there are very few to be found, but I can at least give points to the filmmakers for trying.    Sylvester Stallone stars and is surrounded by capable supporting actors who can say things like, "Here's Little Anthony...and his Imperial" with aplomb.    The actors' duty is to keep up with the seemingly endless mistaken identities, identical suitcases which are switched around and given to the wrong person, and a plot twist or two which is par for the course.

Angelo "Snaps" Provolone (Stallone) is a career gangster who promises his dying father (Douglas) that he will go straight and forego his lucrative life of crime.    Judging by his mansion and staff on his payroll, crime has been good to Snaps, but he is determined to go legit by investing money in a local bank and joining its board.     On the morning Snaps plans to go straight, things go south for him.    While treading as lightly as I can with the plot, Snaps' accountant Anthony (Spano) asks Snaps for his daughter's hand in marriage and a raise to support her in the lifestyle to which she is accustomed.    Anthony also confesses to stealing money from Snaps to finance their life together.    That begins the shenanigans, which includes his daughter Lisa (Tomei) wanting to marry anyone just to get out of the house.    An unseen chauffeur, a linguistics professor (Curry) who tries to teach proper pronunciation to Snaps and his cohorts, bankers, tailors, cops, rival mobsters, and a woman who pretends to be Snaps' daughter all figure into the next ninety minutes or so of screen time.   

Oscar frantically moves along, but doesn't necessarily go anywhere.    Most of the action takes place in Snaps' mansion, and thankfully there are enough rooms to keep characters waiting offscreen until it is their time to enter the fray again.     Oscar is based on a play, and the movie has the same feel to it.    Maybe the events work better in theater and less on the screen.    I enjoyed some of the supporting roles, including Peter Riegert as Snaps' right-hand man Aldo, who acts and sounds like a 30's film hood with his clipped speech and exaggerated Noo Yawk accent.    Chazz Palmintieri is another of Snaps' goons who exasperates his boss by constantly carrying weapons and being slow on the uptake.  

Stallone more or less plays the straight man whom everything happens to and the film uses his untapped comic ability well.    We just wish the performances were at the service of a funnier script.