BRIEF THOUGHTS: Pennies From Heaven

Director: Herbert Ross
Starring: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters
Synopsis: Arthur Parker, a sheet music salesman in depression-era Chicago, suffers a mid-life crisis and falls for another woman.
Thoughts: Steve Martin's second movie after The Jerk, and he shows he's capable of doing dark drama as well as slapstick comedy. This movie has some really dark, creepy moments - Arthur has some serious issues that go beyond your average mid-life crisis. This is a film about how in life's darkest times, we long for the idealistic situations and values of old-fashioned songs. Characters express their desires in song; it's almost like a psycho-analytic musical, a psychoanamusical. The juxtaposition of bubbly, happy melodies with moral ambiguity and helplessness is a unique and effective tool. This movie's a bit twisted, but I recommend it if you're looking for something atypical with well choreographed musical numbers. Oh, and Christopher Walken does a striptease while singing and tap-dancing. Could this be the best dance scene ever?


Watch the trailer.