Trapped in Paradise
Maybe it's because I'm punch-drunk with all the dreck I've witnessed before, but this is an overlooked Christmas movie. It shouldn't be.
It's actually good.
It has:
Nicolas Cage before he started phoning it in. I mean, he was really good.
Jon Lovitz and he was not obnoxious.
Dana Carvey being brilliantly stupid.
A plot
Character development
Wacky chases
And it leaves me with the hope that there may actually be places on earth where people really are so kind and thoughtful of each other.
The ending with the romance is a little forced, but eh, so what?
In brief:
Two recently-paroled brothers show up to drag their older brother back into a life of crime. He's scraping by, making a living as a restaurant manager. When their mother reads a letter from a prison inmate who is dying and will likely never see his daughter again, she insists that they go to Paradise, PA, to meet the girl and give her the letter. Before now, all of his letters have been returned.
They get to Paradise and discover that the bank there is ripe for the plucking. The older brother (Cage) gives in to temptation and they rob the bank but can't make a getaway. Every way they go, they're trapped. (Hence, the title of the movie.)
The townspeople overwhelm them with their kindness, which never flags, even when they learn Cage & Co. were the robbers.
It's a very sweet movie and in the vein of "Groundhog Day".
Definitely a keeper. And why doesn't this get shown around Christmas time? Answer comes there none.
No comments:
Post a Comment