1991's "Another You" was a sad screen farewell for two giants of comedy from the 60s through the 80s, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, following the success of "Silver Streak" (1976), "Stir Crazy" (1980), and "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" (1989). Alas, this proved to be the final nail in their respective cinematic coffins, Wilder giving up movies for occasional television roles and much writing, Pryor reduced to occasional cameos after the onset of debilitating multiple sclerosis. An unworkable script by little known TV writer Ziggy Steinberg casts Pryor as Hollywood conman Eddie Dash, whose community service requires him to chaperone Wilder's George, a compulsive liar ready to leave the relative safety of the sanatorium for an insecure future outside. When a stranger accosts George and calls him by the name 'Abe Fielding,' cash in hand, Eddie sees an opportunity to fleece his new friend with a new con game, but must first make the acquaintance of Fielding's beautiful spouse Elaine (Mercedes Ruehl), who hasn't seen her husband for six months. It's elaborate and shockingly witless, a somber idea devoid of humor that never engages the viewer as it crashes and burns long before the climactic funeral. Peter Bogdanovich was first hired to direct but was fired at Wilder's insistence after six weeks of location shooting in New York, his replacement resuming in Los Angeles, Maurice Phillips a music video director making his last big screen effort. Bogdanovich claimed Wilder felt uncomfortable that he took special pains with the clearly ailing Pryor and had him dismissed due to 'creative differences,' but the switch meant that Pryor had to redo all his completed scenes a second time to his eternal resentment. Both stars struggle mightily to carry the material but still display undeniable chemistry, Wilder once more the eye of the hurricane, Pryor earning chuckles with his seduction of a vicious Doberman ("I'll let you hump my leg!"), Mercedes Ruehl providing some lighter moments to counter the increasingly gloomy scenario. The final result understandably sank without a trace, so bad that patrons stayed away in droves, without so much as a cult following to rescue it from total obscurity.
Review of Another You
