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| Twentieth Century Fox | Release Date: September 18, 1987 |
Starring:
Angie Kempf, Brian Hamill, Danny Aiello, Dennis Hopper, Harvey Keitel, Mildred Dunnock, Molly Ringwald, Robert Downey Jr., Tamara Bruno, Vanessa Williams
Summary:
A womanizer (Robert Downey Jr.) meets his match when he falls for a woman in debt to the mafia (Molly Ringwald).
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The first hour of Toback's movie bounces and sparkles like a stone skipping on water. Downey is such an ingenuous con man it's impossible not to smile at his chutzpah, and Ringwald reveals a grave, grown-up solidity we haven't seen before. [28 Sept 1987, p.77]
It's bright and blithe, like the sound of the 60s girl groups on the track; the flimsy plot hardly matters.
It's too thin to be satisfying. It consistently sparkles and moves along gracefully, but at a mere 81 minutes it leaves you unsatisfied. Although trimmed from an R to a PG-13, reportedly in light of the AIDS scare, you're nevertheless left with the feeling that more than sex ended up on the cutting-room floor. [19 Sept 1987, p.9]
The film is carried by Downey, appearing in his first starring role. Ringwald, while performing adequately, just doesn't seem right for the part. Toback has devised an interesting premise that draws parallels between risking one's heart and one's wallet, but the picture itself risks little.
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As long as this film sticks to what its title suggests, The Pick-Up Artist is a tolerably amusing comedy. But as soon as the compulsive skirt-chaser gets hooked on one girl, James Toback's long-gestating portrait of a one-track mind becomes bogged down in unconvincing plot mechanics.
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