THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 30, 1995 TAG: 9509300035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
``STEAL BIG, Steal Little'' has enough plots for three movies, and tries to get cute about all of them.
It fitfully wants to be a comedy but keeps running into all the naive subplots that bog it down.
It's the old story, again, about the good twin vs. the bad twin. Andy Garcia plays both but, even with two parts, doesn't manage to get a full character out of either. Garcia is an appealing performer, especially in the film's several musical moments, but he can't save material quite this shallow.
Ruben and Robby Martinez were adopted twins taken into a wealthy family. Ruben was raised largely by Mona, an eccentric Auntie Mame-type who was a modern dancer. Robby, on the other hand, was raised by her money-mad husband.
Mona is the film's one really interesting character, and we would like to have seen more of her, but she dies early on, leaving her entire 40,000-acre estate to likeable Ruben. Ruben, who wears a goofy hat and baggy trousers, seems to suggest that if you act like a clown, you must be nice. He's a pretty lame character, in spite of all his much-proclaimed goodness. There are moments at a time when we have the naughty idea that maybe bad-brother Robby might, actually, manage the estate better. We aren't supposed to have that idea.
Meanwhile, Robby schemes. In money capers that are much too complicated to be understood, he plans to get the fortune back.
Ruben goes to Chicago to try and win back his estranged wife (Rachel Ticotin). There, he meets a car dealer (played by Alan Arkin) who flees the mob and becomes his ally back in California. The mob follows. There's a street parade and a balloon caper.
At two hours and a quarter, it's much too long, even if there is so much plot to support it.
Ruben is on screen a surprisingly brief time. That leaves Garcia to appear, predominantly, as the well-tailored and slick-backed Robby. Only the clothes really make a difference.
Andrew Davis, who usually directs action flicks like ``The Fugitive'' and ``Under Siege,'' clearly wanted a change of pace here. He was going for a Frank Capra-like film in which the all-American underdog wins over the forces of big business. His film, though, is almost totally incoherent.
The broad comedy is too naive to be bought by sophisticated audiences. One suspects that it might have worked better as an outright drama, but it is impossible to take it seriously, in spite of all the plot twists.
``Steal Big, Steal Little'' is a true oddity - a film that can't really decide what it wants to be but seems to be good-natured about it all. One can only wish that it could have lived up to its effort to be ``a comedy fable.''
There's nothing more dull, though, than a fake fable - particularly one this long and this contrived. ILLUSTRATION: MOVIE REVIEW
``Steal Big, Steal Little''
Cast: Andy Garcia, Alan Arkin, Rachel Ticotin
Screenplay: Davis, Lee Blessing, Jeanne Blake and Terry Kahn
MPAA rating: PG-13 (some strong language)
Mal's rating: one star
Locations: Chesapeake Square in Chesapeake; Main Gate, Military
Circle in Norfolk; Kemps River Crossing, Lynnhaven, R/C Columbus,
Surf-N-Sand in Virginia Beach
by CNB