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City Slickers (1991): 7/10

Poster art from impawards.com
Referenced to in the popular comic strip “Zits” as the funniest movie ever, City Slickers is an ever-popular movie that spurred (pun intended) a sequel. It has Billy Crystal as Mitch Robbins, depressed ad guy at a local radio station. He just turned 39 and seems a bit far away from his family. When his two main friends, Phil (Daniel Stern) and Ed (Bruno Kirby) arrive at his birthday party, things get worse. Phil’s overbearing wife Arlene (Karla Tamburrelli) finds out he’s been cheating on her with someone at his place of work. To cheer everyone up, they give Mitch his birthday present-two weeks in Arizona learning to become a cattle driver/cowboy.

Well, these durn city slickers don’t know codswallop ‘bout no cattle drivin’. But they soon learn, and the go on an interstate journey to prove their worth, led by intimidating Curly (Jack Palance). Along the way they find meaning and such.

Leave it to Billy Crystal (who put a bad taste in my mouth after Analyze This) to make a funny movie that does have some phony sentimentality, but can still be meaningful. For the most part, the laughs weren’t constant and played somewhat like a hit-and-miss comedy where most of them hit. The laughs that I got were good laughs, not little chuckles and snorts. Around the middle, though, it seemed to be bogged down by the clichéd formula of buddy/friend movies, where they go their separate ways but some calamity befalls one of them and they get back together. I am sick of watching formulaic comedies. Don’t get me wrong, City Slickers is a clever idea executed well, but the obvious “twist” made me upset.

And, of course, I could guess the ending. It was a comedy, and all comedies have happy endings, no matter what. I even could guess what happened to Norman.

I thought Crystal was in great form here, before My Giant came out. He really knew his groove back then, but, unfortunately, he’s lost it now. I hope he can find it. Stern and Kirby were also very good, with grade A chemistry throughout. Palance, I don’t think deserved his Best Supporting Actor Oscar, but he was good as the leather-clad tough-guy cowboy. The other people who are on the vacation, such as D-list actor Josh Mostel, son of Zero, also were good. But Mostel brings me to my next point.

There were too many forgotten subplots, with underdeveloped characters. Mostel’s character Barry Shalowitz and his brother Ira (David Paymer) are able to find out the perfect ice cream flavor after any meal. Why? To pad its already bloated runtime of 112 minutes. Although they are small, who ARE the people who run the ranch? Questions like that will pester you throughout the movie. It is quite funny, but many flaws are in it.

Rated PG-13 for language, raunchy humor, and scenes of peril.

Review Date: January 20, 2003