Photo credit: Oscar (1991) on IMDb
I don’t know about you, but I think movies in the 1990s were a blast, whether they be action films, Saturday cartoons, horror movies, or love stories. Or comedies like “Oscar,” which aired in 1991 and starred a couple big-time actors. Sylvester Stallone played the main character, Angelo “Snaps” Provolone, with Marisa Tomei acting as his daughter, Lisa. Lisa’s husband, Dr. Poole is played by Tim Curry, with many other supporting actors taking their roles in this Comedy of Errors.
The movie itself is a memorable American comedy, telling the story of Angelo “Snaps” Provolone, an ex-gangster making a promise to his father to leave behind the dishonest life and go straight, except it seems that everything goes wrong the day he decides to realize his promise and become a banker. In the center of his troubles is his daughter’s haywire love life that tangles the spider’s web, and her desperation to marry someone and get out of the mansion she claims to be ‘trapped’ in. All the while, Provolone is trying to figure out how to get his own “dough” back from his money-stealing accountant, the accountant’s fiancee that has claimed to be Provolone’s daughter, and his maid who quits during the movie. Not only that, but he has to work on hiring another maid, get a suit tailored for the climax of the movie, meet with the local Priest, as well as his speech teacher Dr. Poole, and finally meet with the board of the banking community to become one of its members, the climax of the movie where everything happens all at once.
Personally, I think my favorite character would be Provolone because of the way Stallone plays the character. Even with partial paralysis in his face, Stallone has clearly learned to compensate for his challenges and bring life to the stage. Not to mention how his character is just a delight, with multiple quirks for all the audience to laugh at, like how he snaps every time he orders around his henchmen, hence the name “Snaps” Provolone. I don’t really have a favorite scene because all of it was just so clever and funny, but the age difference between Dr. Poole and Lisa is kind of off-putting, since Tim Curry is old enough to be Tomei’s father. It probably sounds super biased, and I know Tim Curry is a big name, but I wish they’d chosen someone younger so it doesn’t look… creepy.
But still, even with the age difference, I would still watch Oscar again and again over a lot of today’s movies because it’s not politicized. It’s not Disney-fied, there’s no big political topic they’re trying to sway the masses to agree with, it’s not overwhelmingly action-packed, it just focuses on giving humor and quotable lines to the audience.
Now, while “Oscar” may not appeal to some for various reasons, it’s still a very classic movie with lots of charms and many more laughs. Extremely family-friendly and a delight to watch, I recommend it to any and all looking for a good film to put on for movie night.