miscellanium | find the lady (1976)

he plays such a dumb character in this movie. (ariel needs legs voice) i can't not fuck him

the "is it worth watching this for lawrence dane" rating: 3/5

the plot: remember the cop characters from "it seemed like a good idea at the time"? no? that's ok, it doesn't matter, there's no continuity here other than some reheated gags. john candy's dumb pizza-loving cop kopek and his superior officer, lawrence dane's sergeant broom, end up responsible for investigating a sexy woman's kidnapping. except there's a second kidnapping note for her, then a third. she's supposed to be making an opera debut even though she can't sing and would rather do burlesque at her boyfriend's club, but her rich guardian (played by peter cook phoning it in) is having her kidnapped for an insurance scam and she tries to kidnap herself so she doesn't have to debut. so who's responsible for the third and real kidnapping? broom and kopek do not find out. not on purpose, anyway.

like its predecessor, this is not a good movie. that said, there's a charm to it that the first movie doesn't have at all and it's mainly due to dane and candy. richard monette as a drag queen trying to help strippers with their choreography is an absolute scene-stealer and an instant highlight of the movie. i expect he and dane already knew each other since monette was part of the stratford shakespeare festival in 1965, around the same time dane was getting his start there as larry zahab, before monette went on to become its artistic director in 1994. wish i knew what their interactions were like.... this one is also complicated since it's got some period-typical anti-asian racism and other racisms as well, technically? except they're all typical examples of jokesters trying to have it both ways since every time the point seems to be that the white people are dumb/incompetent compared to the non-whites. arguably more tolerable than something like "sixteen candles" which full disclosure i never finished because of that one character. i don't know what dane would have thought, especially with his experience of being pigeonholed into roles as ethnic stereotypes when he was first starting out versus being treated as white here. the joke where dane's character thinks he needs a spanish translator for someone speaking italian is pretty funny to me tho.

he is also Very Physical With Other Men in this. sure, some of it seems like it's supposed to be along the lines of "ha ha the homophobe is made to look gay and the idea of being gay is hilarious", but i will take it. i will take his unquestioning acceptance of monette's female impersonation and his nervous attraction to the same. a fascinating follow-up to the arguably best and definitely most controversial scene from the previous movie where broom and kopek are dropping anti-gay slurs like there's no tomorrow.

this is pretty easy to find online since it's now marketed as a john candy movie which, yeah, technically. it was one of the very first movies he did, which is still notable even if he wasn't given many chances to shine. (he had a little more energy in his first movie as kopek, versus the writers now seeming more interested in emphasizing his weight and candy seems a little checked out as a result.) the recent john candy documentary included a couple clips from these two movies but didn't discuss either at all, which seemed a little strange to me. (the documentary also completely omitted any mention of the clown murders, which is a shame because it's one of the first roles where he was given something a little meatier.) the documentary didn't really get into his beginnings as a film actor even though it was focused a lot on his feelings as an actor, so i was a little disappointed in that but otherwise it's a fine feature and you should consider watching it. should you consider watching find the lady? i mean, i guess? for dane, sure. he's in it enough that a dane cut isn't warranted, and it's not unfunny imo. mickey rooney as one of the criminals gives a mildly amusing performance in the dane-less scenes. watching it under some kind of influence might get you the best results tbh.

highlight: there was a bit where he was combing his hair while looking in the rearview mirror. very sexy of him

after the first scene of candy/kopek terrorizing a gun range and dane/broom defending him, the movie starts with broom having a crisis over his boss changing trousers in front of him during a briefing. is the joke on him for being overly homophobic? is the joke that this is kinda gay? is it that he's protesting too much and that's kinda gay? idk man. but he's cute when he's embarrassed.

see?

fingers.....

there is a moment that got a sensible chuckle out of me but alas it doesn't screenshot well. he's supposed to be looking at a photograph of known criminals so he can familiarize himself but he picks up a picture of pope john paul ii or whomever and doesn't think twice about it. i hope raised-catholic larry thought it was funny too.

there's an extended scene of kopek slapstick-terrorizing his office while looking for a pencil, which leads to broom trying to save himself from slipnsliding on loose ball bearings by grabbing for kopek.... good

the pencil is a metaphor for. it's a. no i shan't say it

while they're on stakeout, there is one of the funniest scenes in the movie to me. no dialogue, all timing.

i am just very amused by his watching kopek and monette's character with such jealous disgust, completely oblivious to the bazongas in his sight line

i do love the scene where he accidentally inserts himself into a burlesque performance and the audience thinks it's part of the routine. yell "perverts" at me again pls

most of the last part of the movie takes place in a fun house, which leads to some moderately interesting shots and some moments that straight up feel like they could've fit in a david lynch production.

i can tell he had a stunt double for the bits where the stairs flatten out but this is def his own ass

yeah. it's more or less what this looks like. two men getting wet and riding each other.

he looks SOOO GOOD IN A TUX it kills me he didn't get to do it more often. oh to pull those gloves off. or watch him do it

after yet another easily-prevented disaster, the movie ends with them squabbling like a married couple (much like they've been doing throughout) and broom, in a fit of frustration, declaring he's going to go on vacation, and kopek promptly offers to contribute his own vacation time. the yaoi potential.....

good movie? eh. cute movie? yes, if you can look past the non-cute stuff. (cue that community meme about drawing the line at animal cruelty, etc. at least there's no animal cruelty in this one.)

find the lady (1976)

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