Themes: Infidelity, Down on Their Luck, Fashion World
Main Cast: Ryan O'Neal, Jack Warden, Mariangela Melato, Richard Kiel, Fred Gwynne
Release Year: 1981
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Trying to recreate the screwball comedy success of his collaborations with Peter Bogdanovitch, actor Ryan O'Neal headlined this sporadically funny mixture of light farce and social satire. O'Neal stars as Bobby, an intellectual English professor who leaves his job when his father Jack (Jack Warden) appeals to him for help. A garment manufacturer, Jack is in serious debt to humongous loan shark Eddie (Richard Kiel), and he desperately needs his business to provide the capital to pay Eddie back. Completely by accident, Bobby invents the solution to his dad's problem: see-through denim blue jeans with strategically placed holes in the rear that expose one's backside. The fickle public goes mad over the "sexy" new style, and the money starts flowing in, but Bobby exacerbates his father's problems greatly when he falls for and begins dating the amorous Lira (Mariangela Melato), whose husband is none other than Eddie. So Fine was the feature directorial debut of popular Blazing Saddles (1974) writer Andrew Bergman, who would wait eight years before getting behind the camera again with the much more successful The Freshman (1990). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
Writer/director Andrew Bergman hadn't yet found his stride when he fashioned -- for lack of a better word -- this raunchy screwball farce. Very much in line with the late-'70s hangover zeitgeist that inspired such adult-excess comedies as Arthur, Carbon Copy, The Woman in Red, and S.O.B., and the rest of Blake Edwards' output at the time, So Fine trades in unsophisticated puns and would-be trenchant satire with varying degrees of success. Though the irreverent premise might have struck a chord with the "nothing comes between me and my Calvins" generation, it hasn't held up well in the post-Howard Stern era. Besides, Bergman seems less interested in skewering the fashion industry than he does in resorting to standard mob-boss-pursues-debtor comic clichés. But while So Fine may never be described as erudite, it at least offers a few fleeting grown-up pleasures -- which is more than can be said for its progeny, the endless string of '80s teen-oriented ranch-o-ramas ushered in by Porky's that same year. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Mike Kellin - Sam Schlotzman; David Rounds - Prof. McCarthy; Joel Stedman - Prof. Yarnell; Jessica James - Vicki; Donna Bailey - So Fine Girl; John Bentley - Elevator Starter; Dick Boccelli - Lino; Judith Cohen - Renata Canneloni; Lois de Banzie - Waitress in House of Pancakes; Pierre Epstein - Prompter; Tyra Ferrell - Receptionist; Merwin Goldsmith - Dave; Margaret Hall - Saleslady; Jim Jansen - Conductor; Michael LaGuardia - Mr. Eddie's Associates; Lydia Laurans - Manicurist; Gail Lawrence - Nun; Alan Leach - Buyer in Lobby; Rick Lieberman - Rick; Michael Lombard - Jay Augustine; Christopher Loomis - Campus Cop; Beverly W. May - Mrs. Lincoln; Bernie McInerney - St. Paul Buyer; Irving Metzman - Accountant; Bruce Millholland - Sir Alec; Anita Morris - So Fine Dancer; Lenka Peterson; Angela Pietropinto - Sylvia; Chip Zien - Wise Guy in Disco; James Hong - Oriental Man #1; John Stockwell - Jim Sterling; Terri Treas - So Fine Dancer; Webster Whinery - Boy in Volkswagon; Bill Luhrs - Gas Station Attendant; Sally Jane Heit - Shopper; Danny Kwan - Oriental; Pamela Lewis - Buyer; Jeremy Ritzer; Howard Feuer; Paul Price - Man in Towel; Anthony Sirico Jr.
Credit
Paul Bryan Eads - Art Director, Ray Hartwick - Associate Producer, Michael Haley - Associate Producer, Grover Dale - Choreography, Rose Trimarco - Costume Designer, Bill Christians - Costume Designer, Michael Haley - First Assistant Director, Andrew Bergman - Director, Alan Heim - Editor, Ennio Morricone - Composer (Music Score), Santo Loquasto - Production Designer, Jim Contner - Cinematographer, Peter Norman - Cinematographer, Mike Lobell - Producer, Les Bloom - Set Designer, Andrew Bergman - Screenwriter
