Trapped in Paradise (1994)

Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, and Dana Carvey unconvincingly play three brothers in a comedy that should never have been made.

Dave (Jon Lovitz) and Alvin (Dana Carvey) have recently been paroled. They have a letter from a fellow inmate they must get to small town Paradise, Pennsylvania. It seems Vic (Vic Manni) is trying to make amends with daughter Sarah (Madchen Amick), and the brothers agree to deliver it. A third brother, Bill (Nicolas Cage), is leading a straight life before getting involved in his brothers' petty criminal shenanigans. He soon finds himself in Paradise with his brothers breaking parole, and a local bank that is just begging to be robbed. The robbery goes as planned sort of- they did get the money, but the brothers keep getting caught up with the kindness of the local folk, and cannot seem to get out of town. The FBI and local police move in, as does a now-escaped Vic who has taken the boys' mother (Florence Stanley) hostage, and the wackiness continues.

Have you ever seen a film that was so bad on so many different levels, you were literally at a loss as to where to begin? Deep breath- Carvey, Cage, and Lovitz- as brothers? Cage's idea of saving this mess is to shout all of his lines and wave his hands a lot. Lovitz tries out his pathological liar character on the big screen, to no avail. Carvey adopts an annoying, high-pitched nasal drone for a voice, I could not understand a word he was saying. None of them worked well together. Poor John Ashton also comes along, playing the same a-hole character he has played in every film he has been in from "Beverly Hills Cop" to "King Kong Lives." The script is overly hokey and sentimental. I like a good Christmas movie now and then, but this is so chock full of good tidings and cheer, it turns completely unbelievable. Throw in the loud, bombastic music that drowns out some performers' lines, the fakest snow you have ever seen, and some characters suddenly acting in the complete opposite direction from how they were introduced, and you have an unmitigated disaster.

"Trapped in Paradise" clocks in at nearly two hours long and is in desperate need of an editor- I would lose the first half of the film, and then the second half. Do not be fooled by the cast, this is not good.

Stats:
(1994) 111 min. (1/10)
-Written and Directed by George Gallo
-Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, Dana Carvey, Madchen Amick, Vic Manni, Florence Stanley, Richard B. Shull, Jack Heller, Paul Lazar, Donald Moffat, John Ashton, Frank Pesce, Richard Jenkins
(PG-13)
Media Viewed: Home Video