Mr. Magoo (1997) ½ of a
cast: Leslie Nielson, Kelly Lynch, Matt Keeslar, Nick Chinlund, Stephen Tobolowsky, Ernie Hudson, Jennifer Garner, Malcolm McDowell, and Miguel Ferrer
director: Stanely Tong

"Mr. Magoo," a live action adaptation of the popular '60s cartoon by the same name, was Hong Kong action director Stanely Tong's first Hollywood project. Supposedly, Tong accepted the project having been a fan of the cartoon as a child and wanted to do a family oriented film as a change of pace.

I rarely ever criticize entertainers for wanting to spread their wings and certainly a director like Stanely Tong could benefit from a change of direction every once in awhile. Nevertheless, why did he have to pick a film this bad? Yes, it's that bad. Do you know how many films are listed in the Internet Movie Database? Well, I don't, but I'm guessing there are a lot and to land on the Bottom 100 (where "Mr. Magoo" resides at #64) is a humiliation all of its own.

The film's major malfunction is that the script's humor relies on its star (naturally) but Leslie Nielson is simply not funny here. His impersonation of Magoo ends up being nothing more than an episodic 87 minutes of Nielson babbling unintelligently. It probably didn't help that Nielson and Tong could not get along either.

It's sad when the film's most enjoyable moments occur during the opening sequence where the original animated Magoo blunders through cast and crew credits.