Release Date: May 30, 1997
Starring: Michael Richards, Jeff Daniels, Charlize Theron, Jessica Steen, Austin Pendleton, Rip Torn
Directed by: Jonathan Lynn
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (suggestive dialogue and scenes, brief language and sexuality)
There's such a thing as picking too good an actor for a movie. Trial and Error is a classic case study of this, due to Michael Richards' presence on the screen. He's made a name for himself on the syndicated TV series Seinfeld as the outrageously funny character of Kramer, and so when audiences go to this movie expecting to get classic Kramer, what they get instead is a big disappointment. This movie is also a classic case study in the Preview Syndrome. That being, every funny line in the movie is in the previews. Literally.
The story isn't half-bad. Richards plays a struggling (out-of-work) actor and best friend of Jeff Daniels, a successful lawyer in a big corporate firm in a big city somewhere. He's got a corner office, a great view, and is about to be married to the boss's daughter (who, stereotypically, is a real bitch). Anyway, days before his wedding, Daniels is called out to a town in the middle of Nevada to get a continuance for a con man that's a relative of the boss. Richards also has plans: namely, throwing his good buddy a bachelor party. Daniels ends up getting drunk, and Richards steps in to take his place in the trial. Things only escalate from there (for instance, Richards thought he could get a quick and easy continuance but the motion is denied and he's got to play lawyer).
Unfortunately, I walked in thinking it would be a supremely funny movie (I'm still convinced that Richards could really do this part great if he had a better script to go on) and came out realizing that it wasn't a normal comedy at all. It was a romantic comedy. But it wasn't a good one, because it wasn't funny. In a movie like Grosse Pointe Blank, the audience is laughing all the time. Even most Jim Carrey movies, like Liar Liar are much better than this. Instead, this was an unfunny script that was salvaged only by some good actors.
Michael Richards has something to do with this being not entirely bad. His gangly body and Krameristic style leave you laughing at his outright humorous appearance (like the scene in front of the movie producers, where he gets beat up by imaginary thugs). However, you're also on the edge of your seat expecting him to come up with some funny line or gesture ... and he never does. By the end, though, you've learned better: this isn't the movie it was cracked up to be. And its release only a week after The Lost World doesn't help. This one is worth missing.
all contents © 1997 Craig Roush