Film Review: Ruthless People (1986)

Jim Abrachams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, also known as ZAZ, following their directorial debut in Airplane!, not only provided template for future Hollywood parodies, but also became the best known trio in American film industry. Their final film, 1986 black comedy Ruthless People was, however, quite different from their first work.

Film begins with Beverly Hills fashion tycoon Sam Stone (played by Danny DeVito) telling his mistress Carol (played by Anita Morris) that he hates his wife Barbara (played by Bette Midler) so much that he decided to murder her. Before he has opportunity to put his plan into practice he finds Barbara gone. She was kidnapped by impoverished appliance store salesman Ken Kessler (played by Judge Rheinhold) and his wife Sandy (played by Helen Slater), fashion designer whose work has been stolen by Sam. Couple demands huge ransom for Sam and threaten to kill Barbara. Sam is actually delighted with the prospect and refuses to pay. As desperate Kesslers try to get rid of their hostage by decreasing the ransom, things get complicated for Sam because Carol, convinced that Sam would actually murder Barbara, arranged her boyfriend Earl (played by Bill Pullman) to record the deed with the camera and later blackmail her lover. In the meantime, Barbara begins to actually bond with the captors, but Kesslers would also have to deal with maniacal Bedroom Killer (played by J. E. Freeman).

Film is based on debut screenplay by Dale Launer, partially inspired by his own experiences of a struggling salesman and partially by kidnapping of Patricia Hearst. The script, with its tight plot, is quite different from those in previous ZAZ films, which had weak plots as an excuse for surrealistic saturation comedy. Here the humour is mostly character-based, but Launer’s relative inexperience is visible through most of characters being incredibly stupid, malevolent and simply dislikeable. It takes time and talents of the cast for Ruthless People to overcome this difficulty. After a while, Bette Midler manages to evoke some sympathy for her initially obnoxious character, while Judge Rheinhold and Helen Slater do the same for the couple which is closest this film comes to resembling “real people”. Danny DeVito is also very good, making great impression in the role of film’s biggest villain. Although farcical plot has some major holes and becomes predictable in the second half, Ruthless People benefits from ZAZ good direction and excellent pacing, resulting in hour and half running time, format best for entertaining but unambitious films that would allow less demanding viewers to forget the film’s flaws.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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