Another You (1991)    TriStar/Comedy    RT: 94 minutes    Rated R (language)    Director: Maurice Phillips    Screenplay: Ziggy Steinberg    Music: Charles Gross    Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper    Release date: July 26, 1991 (US)     Cast: Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, Mercedes Ruehl, Stephen Lang, Vanessa Williams, Phil Rubenstein, Peter Michael Goetz, Billy Beck, Jerry Houser, Kevin Pollak, Michael J. Pollard, Craig Richard Nelson, Kandis Chappell, Vincent Schiavelli, Romy Rosemont.    Box Office: $2.8M (US)

Rating: *

 If a supposed comedy can be described as depressing, you know something went horribly wrong. As far as I can see, a lot went wrong with Another You, the fourth and final screen pairing of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. It’s also the last time either one of them starred in a feature film*. Pryor was in ill health at the time due to multiple sclerosis; his physical deterioration is on full display here. He can barely walk. Wilder isn’t at his best either as he was still grieving for his late wife Gilda Radner who lost her battle with ovarian cancer two years earlier (May ’89).

 This explains a lot about the lack of comic energy from the comedy duo, but they’re not the only ones to blame for the failure of Another You. Maurice Phillips, who replaced Peter Bogdanovich as director about five weeks into filming, has absolutely no sense of timing or pacing. As such, the movie has the momentum of an old car, sputtering and stalling all the way to the junkyard. Also guilty of cinematic sabotage is screenwriter Ziggy Steinberg whose convoluted script drains every ounce of energy from its promising premise. Another You wants to be a screwball comedy; it ends up a confusing mess instead.

 In order to fulfill his community service requirement, con man Eddie Dash (Pryor) agrees to help newly-released mental patient George (Wilder) readjust to the outside world. George is a pathological liar who tries his best not to revert to his old ways until a case of mistaken identity changes the game in his favor (or so he thinks). Long story short, many people seem to think that he’s this millionaire brewery owner named Abe Fielding who’s been missing for several months. Even Abe’s wife Elaine (Ruehl, The Fisher King) believes it to be true, but she’s pissed at him because of his cheating ways and refuses to let him touch her. Ever the con artist, Eddie encourages a reluctant George to maintain the charade. It turns out that it’s all part of a scheme devised by business manager Rupert (Lang, The Hard Way) to inherit the brewery and family fortune.

 On paper, Another You must have sounded like a can’t-miss idea. The previous Pryor-Wilder outings- Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980) and See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)- all proved enormously successful. The idea of a con man and a pathological liar getting mixed up with in a fraudulent scheme with a big pay-off sounds humorous. It might have worked under the more experienced Bogdanovich’s direction. It doesn’t with Phillips at the wheel.

 It would be one thing if Another You simply didn’t work, but that it fails so miserably makes it all the more disheartening a viewing experience. What makes it even sadder is watching a visibly ill Pryor trying to make it through one more movie without being able to rely on the manic physical energy familiar to his fans. He even has a hard time talking. Wilder tries to compensate by acting- well, wilder than usual- but his heart just doesn’t seem in it anymore. The supporting cast is wasted as well. Ruehl’s role consists mainly of her glaring angrily at Wilder. Former Miss America Vanessa Williams shows up as Pryor’s romantic interest, but her part may as well have been played by a plastic mannequin for all she contributes.

 Bad performances aside, there’s no getting around Phillips’ botched direction of Another You. The first timer simply has no idea how to effectively stage a comedy scene. Take an early scene in which George discusses his impending release in a group therapy session. There’s too much activity in this scene. Each one of his fellow patients shows his stuff- one speaks entirely in celebrity impressions, another is preoccupied with genitalia (“mickeys” as he calls them) and so forth- while the doctor tries not to lose it and doesn’t always succeed. Already, it’s too busy, but I guess Phillips felt more was needed because he has airplanes flying very closely overhead rattling the whole place loudly. More doesn’t necessarily mean funnier; didn’t he learn this is Comedy 101 or was he absent that day? The characters run around a lot but never seem to go anywhere much like the screenplay.

 For all the running around and general confusion, Another You feels rather lazy. It’s poorly edited as well. It doesn’t flow as smoothly as it should. Rarely have I seen such a half-assed movie from a major studio and even that’s giving it too much credit. This is just one of those movies that should never have been made. Talents like Pryor and Wilder surely deserve a better swan song than this.

*= Technically, this is Pryor’s final starring role. He made brief appearances in Mad Dog Time (1996) and David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997), riding a motorized scooter in both. He died in 2005.

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