Review of Opportunity Knocks (1990) by Karry D — 03 Apr 2009

Synopsis: Eddie (Dana Carvey) and Lou (Todd Graff) are a couple of con men who are on the run from a Loan shark that believes they stole a whole bunch of money. They stumble onto a home where people believe they are there to watch it for the owner while he is away in India. While in hiding the owner's relatives stop in and comedy ensues.

In the past, movies released in the 'off season' that is, after the Oscars and before the summer season, tended to be light comedies or low budget action movies. This was especially the case for the 1990s, and this little work fell right into that rule being released in March, also released that month: Santa sangre, side out, teenage mutant ninja turtles.

What you get here, is a very bad attempt at pushing Carvey into the spotlight as a comedy action hero, with someone else as his bumbling comedic sidekick. Of course, this doesn't work, because Carvey's comedic skill requires that he steals the spot light, leaving his comedic sidekick to be even more bumbling and just, well, lame. The villain(s) are worthless, and the parents are just a shaggy dull prat fall after prat fall.

Two if By Sea took a lot from this movie and made it work, so did The Ref. Because this movie inspired the making of much better work, and it wasn't a complete waste of time I would at the very least say it's worth a sitting, if there was nothing else to do.