Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Touches You

hyped garbage

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

If one scans my, wide-screen ONLY, and anally maintained DVD collection, you will find of the vast majority (80%) are dark, ideally SciFi, even noir psych thrillers. The remaining include a few blockbuster Marvel action movies (10%) and some unique documentaries (5%), and the last few are comedies. Comedy movies overall seem too immature for my tastes as a rule. I do not suffer the silly for silly's sake frat comedies well at all.. much less the high school and least of all the "Dumb & Dumber" fare.And yet.. this is one of my all time favorite comedies. Is it quite silly on occasion? Indeed. Is it somehow brilliant above all others? Doubtful. Yet it is so 'brilliantly' absurd in it's timing.. while being quite sexy due it's lovely and charming femme fatale character too.. and ends up being almost shockingly hilarious.Add the locations of the scenes.. and the absolutely brilliant presence of Sir Michael Caine.. mix in just the tolerable amount of Steve Martin's zany factor.. and this film stands up against all comedies throughout the film eras experienced during my 'fitty-five' years far above almost all others seen! #Bravo!

One of my all-time favourite comedies. LOL's are guaranteed! Clever script, top acting (Michael Caine and Steve Martin have great chemistry, making me wish they'd made more films together), smooth editing, and cute music.A special nod for the costuming (perhaps the brainchild of director Oz): I really love the way that they juxtapose the light-and-dark costuming for Caine and Martin, particularly accentuating their opposite-ness, in a delightfully harmonious way.I've seen this film over a dozen times, and it still makes me laugh. This is late-80's silly-comedy gold!

I can just image the fun that Michael Caine and Steve Martin had making this movie. How many scenes must they have had to shoot over because the crew and staff cracked up with laughter? This is a genuine masterpiece of comedy. Martin and Caine score a major home run with the bases loaded for this wonderful farce. The supporting cast fit the situation to a "T." This is far better than the original 1964 film that starred Marlon Brando and David Niven. The two writers of "Bedtime Story" are credited also for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning were joined by Dale Launer for this much better screenplay.A couple reviews thought Martin's character, Freddie, is dumb. Come on! He's incredibly naïve, as Caine's Lawrence Jamiesson notes early on. But, he's quick to catch on and Lawrence warns Inspector Andre (played by Anton Rodgers) that Freddie is a clever conman. Andre notes that the amateur Freddie goes after small change. But, Lawrence quips back, "You can't be too careful, Andre. After all, a poacher who shoots at rabbits may scare big game away."Both conmen have their share of cunning – in setting up or preparing for scams. But then, as they encounter a roadblock, each just as quickly cooks up a scheme to give him the upper hand once again. These scenes are hilarious in themselves – when the camera pans on the face of the respective scoundrel and we see his expression as the scheme clicks in his mind. And then, the carrying out of the scheme brings more laughter. Freddie most often gets the short end of the stick, to everyone's delight because of the howling funny situations that ensue. These two fine actors are a natural match for comedy. It would be nice to see another great script that could bring them together again. The two characters are almost opposites, and thus the perfect match for much laughter. Here's an example toward the end of the film. Freddie throws a fit and says: "Of all the lousy… She is disgusting! She is lying, deceitful, two-faced! She is conniving and she is dishonest!" Lawrence, chuckling, says, "Yes. Isn't she wonderful?"I also liked the locations for much of the shooting – the French Riviera, around Villefranche and Nice, France. I vacationed there in the summers of 1963 and 1964 while on leave from serving in the Army in Germany. Of course, I didn't stay at the Grand Hotel du Caps-Ferrat or a luxury villa. That area along the Cote d'Azur has one of the most scenic shorelines in the world.One thing in the movie was so obviously wrong, yet everyone seemed to go along with it, so I wonder if it wasn't intentional. Could the writers and director have been spoofing the audience? This refers to the scenes of Steve Martin in a military uniform. The trivia section has an item about this – that he passes himself off as a naval officer, yet he's wearing a U.S. Army dress blues uniform that clearly shows the rank of corporal. This couldn't be a simple oversight, because several characters refer to him as "officer Benson." Jamieson, as a British Naval volunteer reservist surely would know the insignia of ranks on American uniforms, as well as branches of service. I think this may have been intentional and a spoof of the idle rich on the playgrounds of Europe. The point being that if they noticed Freddy at all, they wouldn't know one branch of service or one rank from another. And, one would think that Freddy was smart enough in running his scams, that he would know what uniform he was wearing and what rank it showed. Ergo, my hunch that this was intentional and meant to spoof the audience and the communities of the idle rich who could so easily be taken in by conmen and women. "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" is a must for any comedy film collection. It's one of the funniest movies ever made.

I love this film and everything about it, what makes it even better is the fact that it has top actors in it. What a great film... it is a very interesting film to follow, the twist at the end was also a great idea. This film did make me laugh and i could definitely watch it over and over, it never gets old. A must watch.I can't imagine anyone disliking this film, there is nothing to dislike, the film is perfect, perfect acting and well just perfect story line i guess. I do recommend people give this a try. Such a good film.I think it deserves a 9 or 10 / 10 At least.