Main Cast: Crispin Glover, Howard Hesseman, Karen Black, Michael Greene, Brittnew Lewis
Release Year: 1992
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 82 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Rubin & Ed is Trent Harris' off-the-wall buddy movie about two mismatched geeks on a quest to bury a frozen cat. Rubin Farr (Crispin Glover) is a shy, reclusive loner who lives in his mother's hotel. He'd much rather sit in his bedroom listening to Mahler, playing with his squeaky-mouse, than go outside. His mother has other plans, however, and one afternoon she decides to pull the plug on Rubin's eccentric behavior. She demands that he go out and make at least one friend. Rubin capitulates, and after a somewhat half-hearted search, he finds Ed Tuttle (Howard Hesseman, in one of his best performances). Ed is a divorced, middle-aged loser enrolled in a self-help/ get-rich-quick organization called PPR: Positive Power through Real Estate. Ed agrees to have dinner with Rubin and his mother if Rubin agrees to attend a PPR training seminar. All goes as planned for both, until Ed opens the freezer and discovers Rubin's dead cat. The unlikely pair then embarks on an hallucinatory quest through the Utah desert in order to find the perfect spot to bury Rubin's cat. Though at first mutually disgusted by each other, Rubin and Ed eventually learn how to become friends. Karen Black is superb as Ed Tuttle's annoying ex-wife Rula, as is Michael Greene as PPR magnate Mr. Busta. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
Review
Featuring one of the most unlikely film duos ever to grace the screen, this uneven but undeniably fascinating effort from director Trent Harris offers a captivatingly hallucinatory and amusingly quirky journey into the minds of a true misfit (Crispin Glover) and a man unable to find the strength stand up for himself (Howard Hesseman). Fans of Glover will no doubt be entertained by his determination to provide a proper burial for his cat at any cost, and Hesseman's frustrated but equally determined attempt to deal with Glover while insisting that he buy into a cheap motivational scam is also sure to amuse. Alternately repulsive and surreal in it's humor, Harris' debut feature keeps things generally low-key despite the outrageous events, and by the time our duo makes it back to the city, they have come to form an unlikely friendship that is as oddly convincing as it is endearing. Glover's ridiculously exaggerated platform shoes recall a hilariously uncomfortable moment that made late-night talk show history on The David Letterman Show, and Karen Black's gratingly shrill performance highlights a closing scene in which Glover makes good use of the memorable footwear. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Rubin & Ed is an Americanindependentcomedy-buddyfilm written and directed by Trent Harris and released in 1991. It is about an eccentric, unsociable young man who is forced by his mother to make some friends before she'll return his stereo to him. He is joined on a trip through a desert by a pyramid-scheme salesman, to assist in finding a location to bury a frozen cat.
Crispin Glover infamously appeared on Late Night with David Letterman in 1987 dressed, and in character, as Rubin Farr. This caused much confusion to Letterman as he, after almost being kicked in the face by Glover, walked off his own set while still on the air.
Crispin Glover plays Rubin Farr, a reclusive slacker of sorts who spends a lot of his time listening to Mahler, dressing in '70s clothes, and being chewed out by his mom, who owns the hotel they live in, for not having any friends and not doing anything but dancing around to some very strange classical music while squeaking a toy mouse (the kind for pets to chew on). His mother takes away his stereo and tells him that once he makes a friend, he can have his music back. So he begins his search for one.
Eventually, he finds Ed Tuttle (Howard Hesseman). Ed has problems of his own. He is a part of an organization that makes money through a pyramid scheme, and Ed has been less than successful in recruiting new members. He also suffers quite a bit of verbal abuse from his ex-wife, Rula, played by Karen Black. Ed asks Rubin questions for a survey, which should lead into Rubin attending the seminar. Instead, Rubin has Ed come over to meet his mom. When Ed goes to get some ice for his water, he flips out over finding a frozen cat in the freezer. The two talk and decide to go bury the cat in the desert, as Rubin suggests. Because cats hate water, he can't be buried at sea. They make a deal that if Ed will drive Rubin out to the desert and help him find the right spot to bury Rubin's dead cat, Rubin will attend one of the organization's meetings. Things go awry, and start to really get weird. The two bicker throughout the journey to the desert, and end up getting lost on their way to find the perfect spot after getting drunk. At one point, Rubin drinks from the cooler containing the dead cat for lack of water.
There are touching moments though, such as when Rubin and Ed finally bury the cat where Ed looks at Rubin and sees him crying and realizes that however strange Rubin is, he is another human being in anguish because he has lost the only thing that ever loved him. Later, Rubin sees the way Ed's vicious ex-wife treats him and, possibly for the first time in his isolated life, tries to reach out to comfort another person.
