April 13, 2010

For The Love of Peter O'Toole: Club Paradise


Title: Club Paradise (Harold Ramis, 1986)
Role: Governor Anthony Cloyden Hayes, sunburnt patriarch of a Caribbean resort island

Ah, from the brilliant to the...Club Paradise. Now, when you look at who's involved in the making of this film, you might be surprised to find that it kind of sucks a lot. It was directed and co-written by Harold Ramis, who co-wrote and directed Caddysack and co-wrote Ghostbusters, which made my list of 'Perfect Films.' And this film stars a lot of SCTV alumns, including Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, and Andrea Martin. Those are some pretty solid comedy qualifications. On the bright side, Robin Williams in the starring role of a Chicago policeman who decides to retire to the Caribbean and open a resort hotel, is not, as usual, completely annoying and unwatchable. So, that's a plus.

As you might imagine, the plot is: Williams cons some American tourists into visiting his totally craptacular resort while trying to be a good guy and fight the evil forces of the snooty uppercrust resort around the corner and combat the rising violent island rebellion that threatens to bum everyone out. O'Toole plays the laidback governor of the island, who's totally more interested in bedding babes and getting baked (by the sun and otherwise) to deal with political upheaval or whatever. So, pretty bland. But it's not all bad. The soundtrack by raegge artist Jimmy Cliff, is pretty good. The highlight of the film is definitely the two Barry's--Eugene Levy and Rick Moranis--two nerds on vacation to score chicks and smoke pot. Sounds dumb, is funny. Which is a good way to describe the film overall. 

1 comment:

  1. Since I love the crazy that is this film, I just want to mention that Robin Williams was a Retired Chicago Firefighter, not a Policeman. Sad to know that Peter O'Toole is no longer with us as I post this, but great to read about all his films here.

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