Obviously, if he can't remember the explosion, he has no credibility as a witness. One very important detail: he must not tell anyone what is wrong with him, because he must testify in the case against Cornell, the bad guy responsible for the explosion, and without his testimony there is no case. The night before, he has always made sure to record on tape everything he would need to remember the next day, such as what is wrong with him and why. But, truly, anyone who loves off-the-beaten-path comedy films will embrace this one with zeal.Īfter an explosion, private detective Maurice Pogue wakes up every morning with amnesia. In short, if you love Carvey, you will like this film, even though his humor has been toned down. As for the costumes, sets, and production values, they are quite adequate, and the script and direction show decided originality and zest. Kudos to the little dog in the movie, too, as he is highly entertaining. As for Carvey, he has such great comic skills that it is a shame that he never gets to attain his usual "go for broke" humor, but he is still funny and a very attractive performer in his own right. Golino is very lovely and Gambon is quite amusing as the designated gangster. Jones is always welcome and Pollack is acidly funny most of the time, too. Will Pogue and his darling canine, Baby, be able to dodge the bullets of those out to prevent him from testifying, without knowing exactly what is going down? This is a nice little film with a very fine cast. But, Pogue fails to recognize anything that will jog his memory, not even with a doctor's help (Michael Murphy).
It seems Pogue used to be a policeman and had contact with a D.A. In the meantime, Pogue is "arrested" by police officers, who take him to a surprise birthday party, where he is the guest of honor. How can this be? She directs him to follow her to a fashion show, where she will tell him more. Yet, Sara appears on his doorstep and asks for his help. It states he is a private detective and that he has been called upon to testify against a gangster (Michael Gambon) who blew up an automobile containing Pogue's lovely girlfriend, Sara (Valeria Golino). Suffering from daily short term memory loss, way before Drew Barrymore did, Pogue listens to a tape he made the day before. Pogue (Dana Carvey) wakes up one morning in Venice, California and doesn't remember a darn thing about his life. I think most Carvey fans were disappointed with this film. Why? If you have a good comedian and a good story, you don't need that garbage. Also, although I did laugh at some things, we have a modern-day comedy more needless sexual innuendos, sado-masochism offered and the like. Carvey looks like anything but a hard-boiled detective. Part of the problem might have been casting. The running gags with Pogue faking things all the time because of the memory problems is what became annoying.
Add a femme fatale and some wild gangsters, and this film should have been hilarious.but it wasn't. The premise was fine: a private detective (Dana Carvey playing "Maurice Pogue") with short term memory loss, meaning the following day he keeps forgetting what happened the previous 24 hours. The mutt who had a depth perception problem and kept running into things, was easily the best character in the movie. The high, in a dark humor-ish vein, was the dog in the film. Okay, But Not Memorable (Pun Intended) I didn't find this as humorous as I had hoped to find after Carvey's hit "Wayne World" farces.