Directed by: Burt Reynolds
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Sally Field, Kristy McNichol, Joanne Woodward, David Steinberg, Strother Martin, Myrna Loy, Norman Fell, Robby Benson, Carl Reiner
It took some nerve for Burt Reynolds, then the world's biggest box-office star, to direct a dark comedy about a terminally ill man who wants to commit suicide. But, The End hedges its bets and turns into silly, unfunny slapstick fare. Maybe this was a doomed project from the start, but the opening scenes at least present us with darkly comic possibilities before Dom DeLuise shows up.
Sonny Lawson (Reynolds) is a man with six months to live who despairs at the idea of dying a painful death. He decides to commit suicide, and after a failed attempt at ingesting sleeping pills, is institutionalized and introduced to Marlon (DeLuise), a schizophrenic who befriends Sonny and wants to help him end his life. It is at this point in which The End sinks. We meet Marlon sitting next to Sonny's bed and talking his ear off. The scene drags on incessantly and we realize a very little of Marlon goes a long way. Too long. It's as if Reynolds did not want to cut the scene short, so he lets it drag on.
Reynolds is of course a charismatic, charming comic actor. DeLuise can be funny with the right role and someone to rein him in, but that didn't happen here. He is allowed to run amok, with increasingly unfunny results which overshadow the entire movie. In addition, we have various scenes in which the characters scream at each other and only increase their loudness as they progress. The scenes in which Sonny attempts suicide with Marlon's help also build and build to no payoff.
The ending turns sentimental, but doesn't save The End from what has come before and it doesn't last long. Maybe there was no way to make this movie work. I suppose theoretically there could be humorous material to be made from this, but The End isn't it.
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