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+

MEET WALLY SPARKS

title: MEET WALLY SPARKS

year: 1996

cast: Rodney Dangerfield, Cindy Williams

rating: *1/2

Rodney Dangerfield died in 2004, but his movie career died after "Back to School", which was his crowning cinematic achievement. He helped turn "Caddyshack" into a classic . His next venture, "Easy Money", although flawed, had some great moments. And "Back to School" was the peak. Then something happened. Or didn't happen. In 1992 he starred in "Ladybugs", a kid's movie about a cross-dressing teenager playing on a girl's soccor team. Then, four years later, he made this film about a controversial talk show host: a cross between Geraldo Rivera, Jerry Springer, Howard Stern, and... Rodney Dangerfield. The plot centers on the title character "Wally Sparks", as he offends sensors, producers, religious groups and a put-upon governer with the same kind of one-liners that "Al Czervick" used on posh country club elits and grungy caddies; that "Monty Capuletti" used on his family and drinking buddies; and that Thornton Melon used on just about everyone... but the lines in "Sparks" just aren't funny. Either that, or Rodney had reached the age where they didn't seem real. It's as if all the barbs were merely written down and memorized.