FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

RNMorton Winkler and Keaton are buddies working the night shift at the city morgue when they realize they could increase their earnings by operating a call girl business on the side. The usual shenanigans ensue. This was Keaton's breakout role that sent him on a solid ten year run as an A star, it also modestly brought Fonzie to the big screen. Shelley Long is at her Shelley Longest in the role of sweet hooker, later she sort of got stuck in vacant pleasantries but in this one she has a little depth to her character and carries the lead female role well. I don't know if this helped inspire Risky Business but the plot lines have more than a few similarities. Worth a watch.

Uriah43 "Chuck Lumley" (Henry Winkler) is an unassertive, mild-mannered New Yorker who has a bossy girlfriend and works at the city morgue. He is a genuinely nice guy who simply wants to live a normal life. As luck would have it, however, two unexpected events suddenly turn his life upside-down and things will never be the same for him afterward. The first major change is when he gets a new office worker by the name of "Bill Blazejowski" (Michael Keaton) who is the complete polar opposite of Chuck. Whereas Chuck is quiet and considerate, Bill is totally loud, spontaneous and unpredictable. The second person to suddenly appear in Chuck's life is a prostitute named "Belinda Keaton" (Shelley Long) who has just lost her pimp and needs someone to help her out. While Chuck is sympathetic to her plight, Bill sees an opportunity and soon all three of them become part of something that none of them can control. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an exceptional comedy which benefits from the great chemistry displayed by the three aforementioned actors. It was like each of them tailor-were made for their specific characters. Be that as it may, while the subject matter might be a little risqué, I found this to be an enjoyable film and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

AaronCapenBanner Henry Winkler plays meek, and put-upon morgue attendant Chuck Lumley, who is engaged to a controlling woman he doesn't love, and has also been passed over for a promotion, and forced to work the night shift, when he is paired with wacky new employee Bill(played by Michael Keaton, in a star-making performance) Bill is as extroverted as Chuck is introverted, but somehow(despite a heated argument) they become unlikely friends, then business partners. You see, chuck's neighbor Belinda Keaton(Shelly Long) is a prostitute who hates her pimp, so she organizes her colleagues(Bill's idea) to operate out of the morgue(!) Things go well until Belinda's old pimp decides he wants in on the action...Unlikely premise for a comedy works surprisingly well, thanks to appealing performances and good direction by Ron Howard. Story is far fetched of course, but this comedy succeeds in spite of that.

MARIO GAUCI Like STRIPES (1981; see review elsewhere), I was too young to catch this adult comedy – best-known today for being former actor Howard's sophomore directorial effort and for providing Michael Keaton with a star-making role. To be honest, I am rather ambivalent towards Howard's supposed talent as a film-maker: well-suited to light-hearted, life-affirming fare such as this, SPLASH (1984) and COCOON (1985), he has regrettably failed to convince when tackling more serious subjects. Anyway, this was certainly an auspicious beginning: an original, if not exactly credible, premise wherein two morgue attendants (mild-mannered Henry Winkler – Howard's ex-buddy from his HAPPY DAYS TV series – and charismatic Keaton) decide to turn their literally inert shift into a booming call-girl business! Keaton's uncontained exuberance here may have lead to his getting the title role in BEETLEJUICE (1988) but nonetheless comes across as essentially overstated; Winkler though, miles away from his iconic and ultra-confident Fonzie character, is wonderful and he is matched by Shelley Long (of CHEERS fame, hence another established TV performer trying to break into movies) as the call-girl abused by customers (after her pimp is flamboyantly 'executed') who seeks comfort in the arms of neighbor Winkler (himself engaged to a neurotic woman dominated by strict parents). For all the seediness on display (involving partying in morgues, courtroom exhibitionism and exclusive sex clubs), the film proves a generally agreeable and entertaining ride – faltering only on occasion due to overlength (106 minutes). Consequently, there are plentiful felicities throughout (not least an early rendition of the Burt Bacharach/Rod Stewart song "That's What Friends Are For") in the way of situations (notably a running-gag involving Winkler being chased by a hound let loose in the corridors of his apartment building) and dialogue (particularly when, ending up in prison and being accosted by a murder-happy cellmate, Winkler sarcastically thanks Keaton for having made possible his acquaintance with Peter Lorre's son!). Joe Spinell has a small role towards the end as the slimy manager of the swank brothel to which Long relocates after her association with Winkler and Keaton is disrupted: the latter happens to work at the same joint as a towel-boy(!), while the former follows her there on summing up the courage to finally express his love. By the way, a pre-stardom Kevin Costner can be glimpsed during the party-in-the-morgue sequence!