Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 14, 1990                   TAG: 9007140266
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

"QUICK CHANGE" IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE SUMMER COMEDY

It's a caper comedy (at least in part), but it's so consistently unpredictable that revealing any of the plot would spoil the fun. But it's not giving too much away to say that the story begins with a bank robbery and hostage situation.

An armed man dressed as a clown with sticks of dynamite strapped to his body takes over a downtown New York bank. Within minutes, the police, led by Chief Rotzinger (Jason Robards), have surrounded the place.

Some time later we learn that the perpetrator is Grimm (Bill Murray). Even though he's a New York native, he manages to get lost during his getaway. Along with his girlfriend Phyllis (Gena Davis) and friend Loomis (Randy Quaid), he tries to find his way out of a decaying urban wasteland before their plane takes off.

Along the way, they encounter a bizarre assortment of city dwellers including a cab driver (Tony Shalhoub) who speaks no known language, bicycle jousters, gangsters, the world's slowest grocery check-out line and a man (Stuart Rudin) who can't manage to get on a bus no matter how hard he tries.

In the second half, the plot itself is less important than the film's dry, ironic sense of humor. Co-directors Murray and Howard Franklin (who wrote the script) tell the story through the characters. Though this is a strong ensemble piece - with scene-stealing supporting work from Shalhoub and Bob Elliott as a bank guard - Murray's understated brand of comedy generates most of the laughs.

"Quick Change" isn't nearly as boistrous or outrageous as "Ghostbusters," but Murray provides the same kind of cool, relaxed protagonist. Grimm is anything but a criminal mastermind. He's just a guy who got fed up with the pressures and ugliness of the city and decided to get out while he could. Instead of moving to the suburbs, he tried to do a little better by himself and his friends.

No, this is not a typical summer movie. It's well-crafted, carefully paced and smart; noticably lacking in wall-to-wall belly laughs and bathroom humor. "Quick Change" is a comedy for grown-ups. `Quick Change' A Warner Bros. release playing at the Terrace and Salem Valley 8 theaters. An hour and 30 minutes long. Rated R for strong language.