My review was written in May 1992 after a screening in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.
Tom Selleck flinders in the ill-fitting comedy vehicle "Folks!". Made by the team behind the low-brow hit "Weekend at Bernie's", feature proves bad taste isn't enough.
"Folks!" marks an inauspicious first release (via Fox) of the Italian-backed production outfit Penta Pictures. Two more star vehicles, toplining Jack Nicholson and Katheleen Turner, are due out soon.
Scripter Robert Klane, having scored with the stiff comedy of "Bernie's", attempts to mine black humor from other taboo areas here. The embarrassment of watching Don Ameche grotesquely essay a senile old man is exceeded only by Klane's idiotic spoofing of euthanasia.
Rickety plot devices begin with Chicago mercantile exchange trader Selleck called to Florida to sign consent forms for his mom Anne Jackson's operation. While he's gone, co-worker Michael Murphy proves to be an FBI man pulling a sting operation at Selleck's firm. Under suspicion for traveling so abruptly, Selleck's funds are frozen.
Jackson recovers, but Selleck's senile old man (Ameche) burns down his Florida home and wreaks havoc with reckless driving in his vintage Cadillac. (Why all the problems only start when Selleck arrives is unexplained.) When his hard-boiled Floridian sister Chrisitne Ebersole won't take the old folks in, Selleck drives them back to Chicago to live with his wife and kids.
The main running gags involve Ameche's senility (every reel he has the same revelation that Selleck is his long-gone son) and Selleck's accident-prone behavior. The virile star is put through the ringer doing unfunny pratfalls resulting in endless injuries and supposed laff riot involving testicle amputation.
Second half of the film makes no sense at all, as the FBI suddenly decides Selleck is clean, but he's served a 30-day eviction notice, just enough time for his wife to leave him and Ebersole move in with her two brats. In despair Ma Jackson asks Selleck and Ebersole to kill her and Ameche for the insurance money, setting into motion ridiculous murder attempts.
One of many low points is a brief scene where Ameche gains full lucidity merely to deliver necessary exposition. To take the edge off the euthanasia subplot, battered Selleck becomes senile himself for a reel or two, and doesn't seem much brighter during a telegraphed, convenient happy ending.
Marking severe career setbacks for Ameche and Selleck, "Folks!" obviously miscalculates the low intelligence of the mass audience. Though the picture is technically well put together, especially the frequent stunt work directed by Conrad Palmisano, its gags don't work.
Best characterization is the hateful sister portrayed with consistency by Ebersole. Selleck's mom Jackson and wife Wendy Crewson are just along for the ride.
Tom Selleck flinders in the ill-fitting comedy vehicle "Folks!". Made by the team behind the low-brow hit "Weekend at Bernie's", feature proves bad taste isn't enough.
"Folks!" marks an inauspicious first release (via Fox) of the Italian-backed production outfit Penta Pictures. Two more star vehicles, toplining Jack Nicholson and Katheleen Turner, are due out soon.
Scripter Robert Klane, having scored with the stiff comedy of "Bernie's", attempts to mine black humor from other taboo areas here. The embarrassment of watching Don Ameche grotesquely essay a senile old man is exceeded only by Klane's idiotic spoofing of euthanasia.
Rickety plot devices begin with Chicago mercantile exchange trader Selleck called to Florida to sign consent forms for his mom Anne Jackson's operation. While he's gone, co-worker Michael Murphy proves to be an FBI man pulling a sting operation at Selleck's firm. Under suspicion for traveling so abruptly, Selleck's funds are frozen.
Jackson recovers, but Selleck's senile old man (Ameche) burns down his Florida home and wreaks havoc with reckless driving in his vintage Cadillac. (Why all the problems only start when Selleck arrives is unexplained.) When his hard-boiled Floridian sister Chrisitne Ebersole won't take the old folks in, Selleck drives them back to Chicago to live with his wife and kids.
The main running gags involve Ameche's senility (every reel he has the same revelation that Selleck is his long-gone son) and Selleck's accident-prone behavior. The virile star is put through the ringer doing unfunny pratfalls resulting in endless injuries and supposed laff riot involving testicle amputation.
Second half of the film makes no sense at all, as the FBI suddenly decides Selleck is clean, but he's served a 30-day eviction notice, just enough time for his wife to leave him and Ebersole move in with her two brats. In despair Ma Jackson asks Selleck and Ebersole to kill her and Ameche for the insurance money, setting into motion ridiculous murder attempts.
One of many low points is a brief scene where Ameche gains full lucidity merely to deliver necessary exposition. To take the edge off the euthanasia subplot, battered Selleck becomes senile himself for a reel or two, and doesn't seem much brighter during a telegraphed, convenient happy ending.
Marking severe career setbacks for Ameche and Selleck, "Folks!" obviously miscalculates the low intelligence of the mass audience. Though the picture is technically well put together, especially the frequent stunt work directed by Conrad Palmisano, its gags don't work.
Best characterization is the hateful sister portrayed with consistency by Ebersole. Selleck's mom Jackson and wife Wendy Crewson are just along for the ride.