The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)

Directed by Stan Dragoti. Starring Tom Hanks, Dabney Coleman, Lori Singer, Jim Belushi, Carrie Fisher, Charles Durning, Edward Herrmann, David Ogden Stiers, Irving Metzman, Tom Noonan, Gerrit Graham, David L. Lander. [PG]

Monotonous mistaken-identity comedy of a mild-mannered dip (Hanks) who gets caught up in a spy vs. spy game between corrupted CIA bigwigs; it’s hard enough for the oblivious guy to be carrying on an affair with his best friend’s wife (Fisher), but now he has to contend with sinister agents and assassins trying to surveil and/or kill him. Remake of French film, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, but it will be entirely tired and unoriginal even to those unfamiliar with the original version. Dragoti brings no energy to the situations, Robert Klane’s script fails to make anyone legitimately sympathetic or villainous (or humorous, for that matter), and as a pretty blonde agent who slowly falls for her mark, Singer has no chemistry at all with the leading man. In fact, the leading man doesn’t have much chemistry with anyone, and sorta tiptoes through the whole unfocused affair with halfhearted engagement. It’s never a good sign when Jim Belushi comes closer to getting an actual laugh than Tom Hanks.

29/100