But, though Candy plays the lead role and dominates the movie, the film still doesn’t use his talents to their potential. Candy is listed as the executive producer of his new starring film, Who’s Harry Crumb?, so he must’ve seen an opportunity to finally do it right. Candy was brilliant as one of the cast members of SCTV, and he’s provided tasty movie moments as a supporting player ( Splash) and as a co-star ( Planes, Trains, and Automobiles).īut his first real starring vehicle, Summer Rental, was short on inspiration. All others should give it a rental first.John Candy, a mountain of comedy, still hasn’t found a worthwhile movie that he can carry on his own. Recommended only for collectors or those who have seen and enjoy the film. The retro slipcover is rather neat, though. This disc features good Video and decent audio, but absolutely no features, there isn’t even a main menu on the disc. He has better and worse films, with this falling somewhere in the middle. Who’s Harry Crumb? Is a nice and pleasant little film, but not essential John Candy viewing. A big draw to this release is the retro style VHS slipcover. Zilch! There isn’t even a main menu or scene selection. I do think things could’ve been touched up a bit, but for the film at hand, it could sound worse. Things do vary a bit with the soundtrack, so keeping the remote nearby will help. It can feel a bit limited at times, but at the right volume, the vocals were clear enough. The DTS HD 2.0 track is good, but not great. The image is AVC encoded with a 1.85:1 ratio. Only occasional grain and softness occurred, but I was still surprised by how nice this looked overall. Some shots in particular showcased fine detail, making great use of the Beverly Hills location. Probably the best the film will look (unless there’s a 4K release down the road), the image remained pleasing overall. This is a film that’ll keep you smiling even if it isn’t necessarily laugh-out-loud funny. He dons many disguises in the film and most of them are amusing. There’s an amusing bit with Crumb spying on a rooftop and then he slides down to a window which flips, causing him to fall inside. There are a lot of sight gags that work largely because the participants know how to play their roles. This falls pretty comfortably in the middle. As mentioned, this is not Candy’s finest hour, but he did far worse films as well. The plot is flimsy and obvious, so we count on the laughs to get us through things. To best enjoy Harry Crumb, one has to put aside the plot and just go with things. Nikki and Harry spend a lot of time together as they try to solve the case. To help with matters, there’s Nikki Downing (Shawnee Smith) who is P.J.’s younger sister. With Harry being more than a little incompetent, Eliot thinks he will in fact get away with this and get the ransom money. Since Crumb is a bit of a bumbling idiot, Eliot sees this as clear skies and smooth sailing. Eliot puts Harry Crumb (John Candy) in charge of things. Eliot Draisen (Jeffrey Jones) is who is actually behind the kidnaping, making it a bit awkward. turns to Crumb & Crumb to help solve the case. When Jennifer Downing (Renee Coleman) is kidnaped, her millionaire father P.J. It only helps that Candy is front and center and helps drive the plot forward. Even if the stale kidnapping plot is a little lame and tired, the film thankfully doesn’t overstay its welcome. He dons many disguises in the film and somehow makes most of them work. The film makes great use of his physical comedy and presence. Being a fan of John Candy, this isn’t essential viewing by any means, but is still a great showcase for his talent. While I had seen it before, it did mostly slip my mind. I had forgotten about Who’s Harry Crumb? Prior to watching it again for this review, but it was nice to revisit it. Plot: What’s it about? Video: How’s it look? Audio: How’s it sound? Supplements: What are the extras? The Bottom Line Plot: What’s it about?
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