The Out-Of-Towners

A remake of a mediocre 1970 Neil Simon flick, this utterly mirth-free "comedy" stars Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn (together again! oh joy!) as Henry and Nancy Clark, a long-married, vaguely dissatisfied Ohio couple whose youngest child is finally leaving home, forcing them to concentrate on each other for the first time in decades. Henry has just been downsized, and so the pair head to Manhattan for a big job interview. No sooner do they set foot on the island, however, than their plans begin to go awry, albeit in the most predictable, witless fashion imaginable. It's bad enough that the jokes, virtually without exception, are desperately unfunny; there's also a banal seize-the-day subject to add insult to injury. Apparently, Congress has passed legislation decreeing that all Hollywood comedies must feature an uplifting moral lesson; in this case, we learn that spontaneity is a very good thing indeed, while passivity is a trait to be strenuously avoided. Stop the presses. Not recommended. (M. D'Angelo)