The Pick-up Artist (1987)

I wanted to but couldn't!

Did you people see the same film I saw?

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

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A young Robert Downey Jr. thinks that he is a man about down as he goes around in his never ending attempt to pick up women. He is eventually smitten by Molly Ringwald, who is way out of her league in this film. A mobster's daughter, she really has the gambling habit.The other actors are typically stereotyped in their usual roles. Harvey Keitel as the mobster and the late Dennis Hopper as the boozed up and probably drug taking person are naturals for their respective parts.Watch out for a very young Christine Baranski in a one scene stealer and of all people, an elderly Mildred Dunnock plays Downey's diabetic grandmother, who apparently even has a guy at the end.Of all things, Downey is an elementary school gym teacher in the film and fortunately this is downplayed. Let's not further upset our educational system.

It really is a mystery for me, why I like this film. I guess that, before going on, I must introduce myself - usually I'm considered quite a film buff, and my favorite film decade actually is the 1930's. Why, then, would I even bother to watch a Molly Ringwald - Robert Downey, Jr. film from the 80's which has a terrible reputation? Good question. I caught it on TV the other day by accident. It tells a dull story (a girl must get 25 thousand dollars to pay off her alcoholic father's gambling debts and finds a womanizing teacher who eventually helps her out of it, if it makes any sense) with a lot of implausible moments - the scene of the robber singing Elvis, for instance, like another comment mentioned - but it does have a lot of familiar faces and I found all performances likable, particularly that of Downey Jr - but then again, his talent should never be in question, in spite of all his drug problems. Ringwald and Downey have great chemistry and pull of what could've become quite unwatchable. In the end of the day, I liked it and didn't think it was a time waster. If you watch it, maybe you'll be able to tell me why. It's been bothering me.

Robert Downey Jr. is husky and young and wiry as a streetwise ladies' man who does more striking-out than scoring, but his attempts are colorful (you can sense he turns women on just by attempting); Molly Ringwald is a good screen-match for Downey playing sassy tour guide whose alcoholic father is in trouble with the mob. So far, so good--and early on director James Toback displays a sweet, screwball side that was never apparent in his works prior to this--but, unfortunately, the convoluted script gets all gummed-up by the second-half, and the leads go back and forth with each other so much that it all becomes fairly ridiculous. Some pre-release dubbing was obviously done to cover the saltier dialogue passages; it looks sloppy, but that's nothing compared to listening to Downey and Ringwald having sex (what was she in real-life, 17?). These two look good together but are far too young for this scenario, which is by turns cartoonishly sordid and melodramatically soapy. *1/2 from ****

I wish there was a zero out of 10, because this movie should have never been made. It is complete crap and has nothing to do with anything. It is also one of those movies with dubbed in words which makes the movie look really cheap, which it probably was. I was drawn in by Robert Downey Jr. and the very cheap price of the DVD (should have been a dead giveaway). It is disappointing to the very end, which I shouldn't even have attempted to watch. Please for all that is good and holy, do not rent, buy, or even look at this movie. Because of the crazy guidelines, I am going to attempt to tell you how much this movie sucks. First of all, Dennis Hopper is in this poorly written, made, and acted film. He should not have graced the movie with his presence. He should stay forever in Easy Rider. Well, I am tired of writing and hopefully this is ten lines. Again, please do not watch this movie---you will waste precious time that you shouldn't.