Wise Guys

It's hard to convey just how much of a travesty Wise Guys is. Unlike similar comedic De Palma misfires such as The Wedding Party and Get to Know Your Rabbit the film is never boring, but it is perhaps something worse: actively aggravating. Everything in the film, from the score to De Palma's direction (one of the few redeeming factors, as his visual sense of rhythm and the occasional trick including his trademark split-diopter remain intact) to the acting in particular, is heightened past the point of absurdity. The characters and plot are reduced to caricatures, and the viewer gets the sense that the filmmakers are laughing at their characters, providing little in the way of anything to sympathize with.

The narrative itself is surprisingly coherent, following a clear emotional throughline that takes the odd couple at its center on a relatively satisfying arc. But what rankles is the depiction of it, how willing De Palma is to indulge Harry and Moe's hijinks; even the ending is botched, as the characters leave virtually unchanged, with only the slightest bit of luck keeping them from destruction. Granted, the mob aspect is performed rather well, due to the intensely committed and effortless performances of Dan Hedaya and Harvey Keitel, respectively, but it is lost among the endless scenes of Harry and Moe shouting at each other before plunging into the exact same mannerisms.

DeVito's and Piscopo's performances, unfortunately, are in large part responsible for the morass that Wise Guys gradually plunges into. In the first quarter or so, where their characters' plotline is equally balanced with that of the mob's, it is still fairly grating, as they fail to nail the timing of the already tedious screenplay. But from the racetrack onwards (excepting the admittedly funny torture sequences), the film focuses almost entirely on them, and the two become even more eager to mug and belittle anyone they meet; their friendship is the only thing that feels real, but it is surrounded by thick layers of cheese and hair-tearing stupidity that refuses to let up.

Perhaps the worst part of Wise Guys is that it isn't even poorly put together; the pacing is fleet for the most part, there are rarely any serious defects in the filmmaking (aside from, of course, the egregiously long car-starting sequence), and the story is coherent. The tone, however, is so gleefully stupid, so idiotically pleased with itself and its even more pea-brained protagonists, that the film is ruined; I'm not certain if it was my trust in De Palma or my vastly different sensibilities, but I was revulsed in a way that few, if any films had caused. Simply put, for me Wise Guys is irredeemable on almost all accounts.