EASY MONEY (1983)

Hands down the best scene of EASY MONEY has Rodney Dangerfield insulting a fat kid and his family... where he seems like characters from superior flanking films CADDYSHACK and BACK TO SCHOOL, spouting quick barbs that roll right off the iconic comic's tongue, which rarely happens here since Rodney's stuck in a movie with a limited and constricting plot-line: he has to quit all his vices, from gambling to smoking pot to drinking to overeating, to become as rich as his previous characters in those aforementioned classics...

But there aren't that many effective one-liners (Joe Pesci laughs so hard at a few decent ones, he steals the audience's laughter)... and witty insults are what cinematic Dangerfield is all about... Meanwhile, the b-story involving daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh avoiding sex with new husband Taylor Negron is not only horribly unfunny, but their scenes drag far too long... Getting in the way of a comedy that's more entertaining than funny... not a bad thing, but it's far from top-shelf Dangerfield, smoking pot and drinking beer more like a crude fan than what he himself can effectively (and hilariously) channel onto the big screen. Grade: C+