Comedies involving Steve Martin

Steve Martin was credited as writer and actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about 37 years old.
The Man with Two Brains
      1983 | USA | Laughs: 6.3 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This movie has one foot in the "watch once" category, the other in the "don't bother". The main reason I placed it on the "watch once" page is that it is the first movie I've seen where Steve Martin manages to make me laugh a few times. Martin plays a brilliant brain surgeon who grieves for his ex-wife and falls prey to an alluring gold-digger (Kathleen Turner). Despite the alarming title, Martin is neither annoyingly goofy (in fact there is no man with two brains in this film), nor does he draw on the hopelessly "white square American male" humor niche I also associate him with. Save this for a time when you are hung-over. (Last viewed: March 2012)

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Steve Martin was credited as actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about 42 years old.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
      1988 | USA | Laughs: 5.9 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.4
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

Two stars. A scam artist (Michael Caine) passes himself off as a monarch to extract funds from naive wealthy women on the French riviera. He sees his turf invaded by an American scam artist of smaller caliber (Steve Martin). Sweet and fun, with perhaps one or two LOL moments, but the terribly weak ending ruins the overall rating. Without spoiling the end, I'll just say that we can't buy the situation reversal at the end because it contradicts the emotions on the face of one of the lead characters throughout the rest of the movie. (Last viewed: August 2009)

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Steve Martin was credited as actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about 41 years old.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
      1987 | USA | Laughs: 4.8 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 7.6
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This is one of those movies that is probably not as funny as you remember it—perhaps you felt good when you first saw it because it is sweet. I like John Candy, and I have nothing against Steve Martin, though a strange pathology makes me unable to laugh at his act, so in a way for me this is only half a movie. The plot? A study in the "unlikely pair" genre: two strangers get stuck together trying to get back to Chicago from New York City in time for Thanksgiving. (Last viewed: February 2012)

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Steve Martin was credited as actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about 44 years old.
My Blue Heaven
      1990 | USA | Laughs: 4.8 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 6.3
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A New York mobster (Steve Martin) lands in a California town where he must live under the FBI's protection until he appears as a witness at a mob trial. In his new community, our mobster is a round peg in a square hole, and gives lots of work to the assistant district attorney and to the FBI agent charged with his protection. I laughed once and smiled a lot, but overall the rewards are too low to bother watching this instantly forgettable movie. (Last viewed: June 2012)

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Steve Martin was credited as writer and actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about 53 years old.
Bowfinger
      1999 | USA | Laughs: 3.2 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 6.4
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There are a few laughs in this movie, but the pain you must endure to earn those isn't worth it. I'll admit that I'm highly prejudiced: with rare exceptions, I can't stand movies that deal with movie-making—as though the whole world revolved around Hollywood. The premise of this one is that a desperate director decides to shoot a movie without telling a movie star he will feature in it. Sadly, it's much worse than it sounds. There's lots of screaming, chaos, and terrible music to cover up the images. It might just be bad enough to qualify as a cult movie, but you'd have to ask someone who's interested in such things. (Last viewed: July 2015)

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Steve Martin was credited as writer and actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about 36 years old.
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
      1982 | USA | Laughs: 2.5 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.9
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A beautiful woman hires a detective to investigate her father's death. Soon, you realize that many of the segments where someone plays opposite Steve Martin were taken from other films—black-and-white crime flicks from the 1940s and 1950s. The humor is laid with a light touch, so you won't burst out laughing, but the movie is beautifully put together and it's fun to watch. (Last viewed: September 2012)

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Steve Martin was credited as writer and actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about 40 years old.
Three Amigos
      1986 | USA | Laughs: 2.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.5
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Three actors known as the "three amigos" in a series of Western movies are naively called in by a Mexican village facing trouble with real bandits. They misunderstand the telegram and travel to Mexico assuming they have been hired to put on a well-paid show. Cute, but probably not worth watching unless you're about eight years old. (Last viewed: September 2012)

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Steve Martin was credited as writer and actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about 32 years old.
Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy
      1978 | USA | Laughs: 0.5 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.7
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This short film is a series of skits which have the funny feature that they all fail to make me laugh. Maybe it's the forty years that have elapsed, but my suspicion is that Steve Martin and I are not on the same wavelength. Next I'll go try some his stand-up. (Last viewed: August 2018)

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Steve Martin was credited as actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about 43 years old.
Parenthood
      1989 | USA | Laughs: 0.3 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.0
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Several parents deal with the joys and pains of having children. I can't tell you more about the plot as I had to quit in boredom after thirty minutes. It was that or jumping off the balcony.

Once again I got sucked in by someone's vehement recommendation to watch a Steve Martin movie. Once again this perennial North American favorite fails to make me even smirk. The cast is not stellar but everyone else is more or less fine, I can buy into the roles they portray. But the moment I look at this man, a warning signal in my brain screams "clown" and jolts me out of the movie. I just can't take this guy seriously as an actor.

Don't let this discourage you. I'm sure someone somewhere will find something to like in this film. Blissful is that person, there's so much Steve Martin to be consumed for someone who likes what he does.

(Last viewed: September 2022)

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Steve Martin was credited as actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about 65 years old.
The Big Year
      2011 | USA | Laughs: N/A (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Three birding enthusiasts compete to be the one who will spot the most bird species in a calendar year. The commitment to the competition takes a toll on their professional and family lives.

Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson made a balanced triangle, and the story-line was unusual. While this is certainly not a laugh-out-loud comedy (the rare bird that this site aims to spot) this was a very cute movie that made me smile a lot. (Last viewed: November 2016)

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