Checking Out

When Ray Macklin's (Jeff Daniels) best friend suddenly keels over from a heart attack during a barbecue, Ray becomes obsessed with the notion that he's going to die next. It's a good premise filled with comic possibilities, none of which are realized in this rather lame, rather sexist, and rather pointless "comedy". Ray makes the predictable trips to various doctors who, of course, pronounce him perfectly healthy. Along the way he meets a few offbeat characters: a limousine-driven hypochondriac, a wired-for-health salesman (pulse rate watch, heart beat analyzer, the works), and a sex-starved secretary. But these characters only exist to provide temporary relief from 95 minutes of straight whining. After the first 15 minutes or so, you kind of hope that Freddy Krueger will arrive and do a little impromptu Christian Barnaard action on Ray, if you know what I mean. Not recommended. (R. Pitman)