Review of Goin' South (1978) by Peter A — 18 Dec 2013

Let's be clear: Goin' South is young Jack Nicholson's version of a Romantic Comedy, so you can imagine it's nothing like how the rest of us view a romantic comedy. I'm not saying the movie's bad, it's actually pretty good as a late '70s Western comedy, but it's a little strange. It's another vehicle for letting Nicholson act crazy, this time in the Old West, and that's cool because crazy is half the reason I watch a Nicholson movie. Throw John Belushi, Christopher Lloyd & Danny DeVito into the mix, and you got the makings of something funny.

But the problem I have is Goin' South isn't ha-ha funny or crazy zany. I get an actual story is being told, and that's fine, but the comic potential is so weighted down it's hard to fully get in to the movie. I wanted to see Nicholson, Lloyd and Belushi go over the top more than they did. Also, Mary Steenburgen is a fine actress. I really like her, but I didn't sense much chemistry between her and Nicholson. That makes sense in the beginning, but even in the end, I wasn't feeling much of a connection between the two.

So while the laughs and the romance might be underwhelming, Goin' South is still worth seeing just to appreciate watching this collection of actors, including Ed Begley Jr., in their primes working to make a good film.