Review of See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) by Rob A — 10 Jun 2016

Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder are one of my favorite comedy teams, though I think "Stir Crazy" is their only great film. The others are merely good or at worst watchable. This film fits into the merely good category.

Wilder plays an uptight deaf man and Pryor plays a foul mouthed blind man. The two get involved in a murder mystery with bad guys chasing after them as they seek to solve the mystery. Those bad guys are played by the very attractive Joan Severance, who'd later become a regular in Zalman King's films, and Kevin Spacey plays the mustache twirling villain Kirgo.

Anthony Zerbe plays the head bad guy, but doesn't show up until the end. But the story really isn't why you'd watch this film. It's the banter between Pryor and Wilder why you want to watch this film.

It's not as good a "Stir Crazy" but there are a number of funny bits, including a fight scene where Wilder helps Pryor in a fight or when a car chase where the two help one another. Prior and Wilder both have some good scenes on their own, such as when Pryor uses "Big Mo" or when Whilder holds-up Severance with a "gun" in his pocket.

But my favorite surprise of this film was that I'd forgotten that Stewart Copeland did the music for this film and Copeland delivers a soundtrack in his usual style, which I personally love and now really want to find this soundtrack.

Directed by Arthur Hiller, this film isn't close to being a classic, but it's an entertaining enough of comedy and is particularly entertaining if you're a fan of Pryor and Wilder.