Trapped in Paradise (1994) 20th Century Fox/Comedy RT: 111 minutes Rated PG-13 (language, some violence) Director: George Gallo Screenplay: George Gallo Music: Robert Folk Cinematography: Jack N. Green Release date: December 2, 1994 (US) Cast: Nicholas Cage, Jon Lovitz, Dana Carvey, Madchen Amick, Florence Stanley, Donald Moffat, Angela Paton, Richard Jenkins, John Ashton, John Bergantine, Vic Manni, Frank Pesce, Sean McCann, Paul Lazar, Richard B. Shull. Box Office: $6M (US)
Rating: ***
I can’t remember why I didn’t like the Christmas-themed crime caper Trapped in Paradise the first time I saw it back in ’94. Maybe I was in a bad mood that night. Maybe I was stressing over finals. I really don’t know. What’s important is that I had a change of heart about it. Now I really like it. I like it enough to watch it every Christmas season. It’s one of the first movies I watch post-Thanksgiving.
Directed by George Gallo (29th Street), Trapped in Paradise deals with three brothers, two just out of prison and one trying hard to stay on the straight and narrow, who rob a small town bank on Christmas Eve. The robbery itself is relatively easy; it’s getting out of town that proves to be a challenge. Think Groundhog Day meets Quick Change with a dash of It’s a Wonderful Life thrown in for good measure.
Bill Firpo (Cage, Leaving Las Vegas) comes from a family of criminals, but he tries to live the straight life by managing a restaurant in New York. It becomes much harder to do when his two brothers, pathological liar Dave (Lovitz, A League of Their Own) and dimwitted kleptomaniac Alvin (Wayne’s World 1 & 2), get released from prison early due to overcrowding. He swears he’s not going to let them talk him into taking part in one of their schemes. Unfortunately, he has no choice but to skip town with them after an attempted robbery just minutes after their release.
They head to the small Pennsylvania town of Paradise where Dave and Alvin claim they’ve been sent by a dying fellow inmate Vic (Manni, 29th Street) to deliver a letter to his estranged daughter Sarah (Amick, Twin Peaks). They owe him for protecting them while they were inside. True to their criminal nature, the boys have an ulterior motive for being in Paradise. They plan to rob the bank of the $275,000 in the vault. It just so happens Sarah works there as a teller. Bill reluctantly agrees to help them pull off the crime after he determines it should be easy with the lax security.
Aside from a few unexpected minor glitches, the threesome pulls off the robbery. It turns out that was the easy part. The hard part is getting out of town. A huge blizzard has shut down the interstate. Alvin wrecks the car after driving off a bridge. That’s when the Firpo boys learn the truth about the people of Paradise. They’re a friendly, trusting lot. After their accident, they’re invited to Christmas dinner at the home of the kindly bank president Mr. Anderson (Moffat, The Thing) who also sets them up with a change of clothes.
Hospitality notwithstanding, the brothers still need to get out of Dodge. An FBI agent (Jenkins, There’s Something About Mary) shows up to help the inept local police investigate the robbery. A couple of moronic shopkeepers, Ed (Ashton, Beverly Hills Cop) and Clovis (Bergantine), set out to catch the robbers so they can take the money for themselves. Vic, after hearing the Firpo boys robbed the bank, a crime he planned to commit when he got out, escapes with his associate Caesar (Pesce, Beverly Hills Cop II) and heads to Paradise with Ma Firpo (Stanley, Outrageous Fortune) as a hostage. Try as they might, they are stuck in Paradise. As if their situation wasn’t already complicated enough, Bill develops feelings for Sarah who rents a room in Mr. Anderson’s house. Nobody in town knows about her father. She’d prefer to keep it that way.
Being that Trapped in Paradise is a feel-good Christmas movie, Bill starts to regret robbing these nice people and considers returning the money. I think we all saw that development coming. You know what? It doesn’t matter. The important thing is Trapped in Paradise earns its good will with its corny sentiment about small town folks and personal redemption. It’s also very funny. Stanley is a riot as the mother who’s proud of her criminal sons. She gets off all the best lines. At one point, she tells Vic and Caesar that they’re “dumber than a box of hair.” When they call her a witch, she replies, “I wish I were a witch ’cause then I’d shove my broomstick right up your ass.” I wish her character had more screen time. I also like the Andersons’ three-legged dog Tripod.
Cage does a pretty good job as mostly level-headed Bill. He borders on unhinged Nicolas Cage a few times, but always reels it back in before going full Nicolas Cage. He has great chemistry with Lovitz (who basically reprises his Tommy Flanagan character from SNL) and Carvey as somebody who’s clearly mentally challenged. Who else would ask a hostage to hold his gun while he enjoys a few bites of Scrapple at the town diner? It’s a Pennsylvania delicacy, look it up.
Amick is just fine as the love interest who makes Bill want to be a better man. I couldn’t figure out Jenkins’ character. He’s an FBI agent, but doesn’t really come across as the consummate government agent. He actually comes off as an idiot who’s only slightly more intelligent than the buffoons that comprise the local police department. How bad are they? One of the deputies (the sheriff’s son!) is definitely mentally challenged, but he steps up when it’s most needed. That still doesn’t excuse Ed and Clovis running around town with loaded guns interfering with real law enforcement.
Everybody in Paradise is so gosh-darn nice and generous. I kept waiting for Opie Taylor to come strolling along with Barney Fife. I have to ask. Did it ever occur to anybody that the three strangers hanging around are the same ones that robbed the bank? It doesn’t seem to given how they all extend the hand of friendship so easily. Again, I don’t really care.
In the end, Trapped in Paradise is a pleasant little diversion with some big laughs. I laugh more and more every time I watch it. It has a stellar cast and solid direction. Sure, it runs a little long, but do you really have someplace else to be on a cold December night? I sure don’t.
