Oscar

A gangster (Sylvester Stallone) decides to go straight, but faces a day of wacky antics before he finally quits his life of crime.

This is an easy film to moan about. It meanders about chaotically in a way that becomes tedious rather than entertaining. Stallone doesn’t have the best comedy chops, and sometimes the material also just isn’t there for him anyway. It was widely panned on release and you can sort of see why.

And yet, 35 years later it’s clear that the criticism was overly harsh, and that there is a lot to like in Oscar. For one, the supporting cast is great: Tim Curry, Marisa Tomei and even Kirk Douglas are all really funny. For two (?), there are funny jokes here and Stallone delivers them well.

It’s no comedy masterclass but it’s also not a complete waste of your time. I guess people just really wanted to hate on the idea of Stallone in a comedy.