Delightful comedy with a fine edge for character study and subtle plays in narration, "Out Cold" looks like Edward Hopper paintings transposed into a playful movie. The Hopper like iconography blends with skillful comic acting, tight scripting, and thoughtful editing to create an utterly delightful film.
Director Malcolm Mowbray deftly handles George Marko and Leonard Glasser's droll writing. Teri Garr, Randy Quaid, and John Lithgow play off each other with precision and charm.
Some of the music sounds a bit too cute, but most of the soundtrack enhances the mood and narrative.
I wonder how I missed it at first release. I missed a treasure. There is not a false step here.
Out Cold
1989
Comedy / Drama / Thriller
Out Cold
1989
Comedy / Drama / Thriller
Plot summary
Sunny is married to the butcher, Ernie, and their marriage is about to end as both of them have affairs. Thus Sunny hires Lester Atlas as private investigator in order to collect proof for the divorce. One evening drunken Ernie and his partner Dave have a fight in the butcher shop with Ernie getting knocked out in the fridge where he dies during the night. But it was not Dave's fault but intentional murder by Sunny. Only Lester has proof so Sunny kills him, too. Thus she only has to kill Dave to get rid of all witnesses, but he can free himself out of the fridge and wants to take revenge.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 845.35 MB
1280*694
English 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
A Treasure
Reviewed by
What a brilliant, witty little film!
*********Minor spoiler contained below*********
This is easily one of my favorite ten movies.
The deadpan performances witty and quips between characters (the scene where Lester Atlas visits Dave at the butcher shop while he's trying to `dispose' of a corpse is absolutely hilarious!) are what make this movie shine. However, this kind of morbid humor is not for everyone, but to those of us who enjoy this brand of sick humor, enjoy!
"Out Cold" definitely deserves more credit than it's been given, and if you give it a chance, it won't disappoint you.
My Rating: Ten stars out of ten.
P.S. If you enjoyed Randy Quaid in "Out Cold", you might enjoy him in the even lesser-known film entitled "Parents". You are warned, though. `Parents' isn't a comedy; it's a very disturbing satirical look at American consumerism in the 1950's. However, it is ones of the few chances where you get a chance to see how good of an actor Randy Quaid actually is.
Reviewed by
Underrated, forgotten gem
Strangely panned by many critics yet this is actually a funny, black comedy about small-time accidents, coincidences, misunderstandings, failed scheming and murder amongst friends and spouses that has a lot more wit than the overrated Blood Simple. The plot is tight, the humor is delightfully droll and the next-door type characters are well-drawn and fun to watch despite their nastiness, simply because of the blackly amusing circumstances they find themselves in.
This did not deserve to become so obscure. Re-issue it on DVD please.