Good story, Not enough for a whole film

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Blistering performances.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

for me,it remains a lovely surprise. an old fashion comedy, with a brilliant genius of humor from Silvester Stallone, admirable job of Ornella Mutti and Linda Gray escaping from the circle of "Dallas" in charming manner. but, more important, "Oscar" is a great resurrection of old fashion comedy. and, maybe, this is its basic virtue. the humor who has not the desire to impress, sweet, seductive, familiar, out of vulgar allusion, using the Mafia motif in smart way and the love as key of beautiful end. so, a refreshing film. one of the most important pretext for see it. less twice. better, often.

Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in order, I come to 1991's Oscar.Plot In A Paragraph: Angelo "Snaps" (Stallone) Provolone made his dying father a promise on his deathbed, that he would leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Snaps sets about to keep his promise, and become a banker.Rival muscle man Arnold Schwarzenegger had scored big with two comedies in 'Twins' and 'Kindergarden Cop' so Sly hoped for similar results when he tried his hand at comedy. Oscar would have been a great stage play, but it just doesn't work on film and more damagingly its not very funny. A lot of the jokes are from the 30's and are poorly delivered and just not funny.Whilst not as bad as some would have you believe, and you have to give him credit for trying something different. The movie does have a certain charm to it, mostly thanks to Stallones performance. Most of the supporting cast are very poor, so despite an energetic (if over the top) performance from Sly. Oscar never raises itself above anything other than "ok" or "alright"

This film is based on the 1958 French play "Oscar" by Claude Magnier and it's also a remake of French 1967 movie "Oscar" staring Louis De Funes. I haven't seen the French version and considering my dislike for French comedies (with few exceptions) I don't think I ever will. So there won't be any comparisons between the French movie and Hollywood version. The only thing you need to know is the action here is set in 30's America in world of Italian gangsters instead of 60's France and the world of French businessmen.The story here is completely ridiculous , but it's a FARCE people , it has to be that way . The story has to be slightly confusing and full of action and twists. Maybe that's the reason why the USA audience didn't liked it ? It's kind of weird considering it's a homage to 30's comedies that are still popular today. It feels a lot like a Cary Grant / Katherine Hepburn movie.Some jokes feel repetitive and the story gets predictable in some place , but it never hurts the movie too much The story is pretty much an excuse to put the characters in funny situations. The characters are well defined and likable. The movie is loaded with memorable dialogue and wordplay . "Oscar" feels like a mix of screwball comedy and «commedia dell'arte».Sylvester Stallone always had a great sense of humor even in his most serious movies (contrary to what people say). Here he is having fun spoofing his own image and shows a really good comic timing . He does an admirable job and actually fits his role. "Oscar" has also an all star supporting cast: Don Ameche ("Trading places") , Marisa Tomei ("My cousin Vinny") , Tim Curry ("Rocky horror picture show"), Kirk Douglas ("Spartacus") , Kurtwood Smith ("Robocop") Chazz Palmenteri ("Bronx tale") . Watch out for Arleen Sorkin (the voice of Harley Quinn in "Batman TAS") in small role of manicurist. Everyone is good here and fits is/hers role perfectly.John Landis directs "Oscar" in solid way. "Oscar" actually feels like you're watching a stage show and that's not a bad thing.Forget "Rhinestone" and "Stop or my mom will shoot". This is Stallone's best comedy (not counting his action comedies) and John Landis best movie in the 90's ( before he lost his touch completely). "Oscar" is not earth-shatteringly important movie or comedy , but it's pretty fun movie in universal way (you can watch it with all of your family and everyone should find something funny in it). I give it 5/10.

"Oscar" is set in a single day and centers around a central location in the period of the early '30s: the mansion of going-straight mob boss Angelo "Snaps" Provolone.The environment is a tangled web of confusing and conflicting circumstances, all done with purposeful absurdity and silliness. New challenges and complications muddy up the day of Snaps attempting to lead the honest life after giving one last request to his dying father. Can he do it? Well, maybe if he manages to settle down and think apart from so many building distractions, such as dealing with anyone from his spoiled daughter and pestering son-in-law-to-be to his simple henchmen that need looking after and wising up.The flow starts to feel routine and eventually claustrophobic due to seeing the same do-nothing areas, as well as the situational humor eventually turns tedious from watching similar gags run their course. Minor characters stand apart such as the informant "Five Spot Charlie" with his eccentric lip smacking and stuttering; Chazz Palminteri plays a hit-man who tears up to touching events. Though the laughs don't always come so easily with "Oscar" compared to other Landis films like "Animal House," "Three Amigos," "Coming to America," "Trading Places" and even "American Werewolf" considered.This is a movie that relies heavily on its situations and characters--since it was modeled after a stage play--however some of the cast aren't so hysterical that it radiates across the screen to make a viewer instantly loosen up and go with its zaniness. Stallone, for instance, frequently uses this kind of booming intonation like a professional wrestler to show aggravation; it's commanding, but not for comedy's sake. This had potential to be a breezy if still fun film, though some sparks went missing to clench a solid pacing and the movie in turn felt up and down. Had it one moment, gone flat the next.