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John Ritter stars in a messy but watchable comedy that, according to some internet sources, started life as a sequel to writer/director Blake Edwards' "10."
Zach (John Ritter) is a blocked writer married to news anchor Alex (Alyson Reed) but sleeps with every other woman he can find. He is blithely descending into alcoholism, and finds himself cheating on the women who he was cheating with on his wife. The film shows us Zach's downfall, meeting women who he thinks will be the one to save him, and going to his psychiatrist Dr. Kidd (Peter Westford), lawyer Jake (Joel Brooks), and Barney the bartender (Vincent Gardenia) begging for someone to tell him what he should do.
"Skin Deep" was from the later round of comedy films Edwards was making in the 1980s, usually with mixed results- I saw "Sunset" in the theater opening weekend, and regretted that decision to this day. The most infamous scene is the glow-in-the-dark condom fight, but Ritter was a gifted physical comedian and is hilarious in both an electric shock treatment gone wrong, and a tsunami. His performance is earnest, I really shouldn't have liked Zach as much as I did, and Ritter is excellent handling the drama and the comedy equally. Reed is underrated as Zach's true love, as Edwards writes effective bait-and-switch characters- every time Zach meets another woman, he and the viewer thinks she might be "the one."
If anything, the slapstick scenes seem added because of a lack of confidence in the screenplay's dialogue-heavy scenes. There is a noticeable drag here and there, and some characters simply don't work (Donat's Sparky and his fate), as well as some comic bits (the costume party scene). Ritter shines through each time, however, and the supporting cast does some excellent supporting- I could watch DeeDee Rescher as Jake's wife Bernice laugh at Zach's troubles all day long.
"Skin Deep" is full of 1980's excess nostalgia, and is a fun time for those of us who remember what the world of safe sex and no cell phones was like.
Stats:
(1989) 101 min. (7/10)
-Written and Directed by Blake Edwards
-Cast: John Ritter, Alyson Reed, Vincent Gardenia, Joel Brooks, Julianne Phillips, Chelsea Field, Peter Donat, Don Gordon, Nina Foch, Denise Crosby, Michael Kidd, DeeDee Rescher, Bryan Genesse
(R)- Physical violence, some gun violence, strong profanity, nudity, strong sexual content, strong sexual references, strong adult situations, very strong alcohol use, tobacco use
Media Viewed: Streaming
