"Hey, baby. Walk nasty for me". This low-voiced, seductive lead-in is the gateway to endless jokes about an extremely long penis in this serviceable showcase for stand-up comic Craig Shoemaker, a winner at this year's American Comedy Awards.
Directed by first-timer Michael Goldberg (co-writer with partner Tommy Swerdlow of "Cool Runnings" and "Little Giants"), "The LoveMaster" is distributed by Rocket Releasing and boasts small roles and cameos played by Farrah Fawcett, Kurt Rambis, Karen Witter and Courtney Thorne-Smith. Its theatrical life should be brief, but Shoemaker's fans will discover "LoveMaster" in the video rental market, where it should do brisk business.
There's a nominal plot about comedian and impersonator Craig Shoemaker) trying to work out his personality problems with a therapist (George Wendt), including amusing flashbacks with the lead as a young boy (Kyle Thomas) and teen (Andrew Starnes). But the real attraction is Shoemaker's onstage talents and R-rated material, captured in a 1995 concert at the Improv in Tempe, Ariz.
With a gift for facial contortions to go along with his perfect vocal mimicry, Shoemaker knows how to work a crowd into hysterics with a combination of Baby Boomer nostalgia and raunchy sex jokes. His Don-Knotts-as-Barney-Fife shtick is inspired, while caricatures of his pot-smoking grandmother and an effusive gay man are engagingly exaggerated.
Shoemaker has fun with young audience members who may not get all his 1950s- and '60s pop culture references. He's most exciting when he changes personality mid-joke, but too often he returns to the titular LoveMaster. It's a very funny bit but limited to variations on how one can use a member comparable to an elephant's trunk to impress the ladies.
THE LOVEMASTER
Rocket Releasing
Rocket Pictures presents
A Coleman/Breen production
A Michael Goldberg film
Director Michael Goldberg
Producer Tom Coleman
Executive producers Alan David, Mark Breen
Directors of photography Phil Parmet,
Jeff Zimmerman
Production designer Gary Randail
Editors Richard Currie, Jeremy Kasten
Music Michael Skloff, Giorgio Bertucelli
Costume designer Maud Kersnowski
Color/stereo
Cast:
Craig Craig Shoemaker
Therapist George Wendt
Young Craig Kyle Thomas
Teen Craig Andrew Starnes
Running time -- 84 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Directed by first-timer Michael Goldberg (co-writer with partner Tommy Swerdlow of "Cool Runnings" and "Little Giants"), "The LoveMaster" is distributed by Rocket Releasing and boasts small roles and cameos played by Farrah Fawcett, Kurt Rambis, Karen Witter and Courtney Thorne-Smith. Its theatrical life should be brief, but Shoemaker's fans will discover "LoveMaster" in the video rental market, where it should do brisk business.
There's a nominal plot about comedian and impersonator Craig Shoemaker) trying to work out his personality problems with a therapist (George Wendt), including amusing flashbacks with the lead as a young boy (Kyle Thomas) and teen (Andrew Starnes). But the real attraction is Shoemaker's onstage talents and R-rated material, captured in a 1995 concert at the Improv in Tempe, Ariz.
With a gift for facial contortions to go along with his perfect vocal mimicry, Shoemaker knows how to work a crowd into hysterics with a combination of Baby Boomer nostalgia and raunchy sex jokes. His Don-Knotts-as-Barney-Fife shtick is inspired, while caricatures of his pot-smoking grandmother and an effusive gay man are engagingly exaggerated.
Shoemaker has fun with young audience members who may not get all his 1950s- and '60s pop culture references. He's most exciting when he changes personality mid-joke, but too often he returns to the titular LoveMaster. It's a very funny bit but limited to variations on how one can use a member comparable to an elephant's trunk to impress the ladies.
THE LOVEMASTER
Rocket Releasing
Rocket Pictures presents
A Coleman/Breen production
A Michael Goldberg film
Director Michael Goldberg
Producer Tom Coleman
Executive producers Alan David, Mark Breen
Directors of photography Phil Parmet,
Jeff Zimmerman
Production designer Gary Randail
Editors Richard Currie, Jeremy Kasten
Music Michael Skloff, Giorgio Bertucelli
Costume designer Maud Kersnowski
Color/stereo
Cast:
Craig Craig Shoemaker
Therapist George Wendt
Young Craig Kyle Thomas
Teen Craig Andrew Starnes
Running time -- 84 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 10/9/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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