Camouflage

Trailer—Camouflage

Camouflage_720p(480P)

source: Camouflage

I had actually never heard about this 2001 crime comedy title "Camouflage". But I stumbled upon the movie by random chance here in 2023, and seeing that the movie had Leslie Nielsen in a leading role, of course I had to sit down and watch it. Writers Billy Bob Thornton, Tom Epperson and Karl Schanzer put together a rather nicely written and enjoyable script and storyline for director James Keach to bring to the screen. I found the storyline in "Camouflage" to be good, entertaining and enjoyable, so the movie did what a movie is supposed to be; be entertaining. The acting performances in the movie were good, and they definitely had a good cast ensemble put together for the movie. With the likes of Leslie Nielsen, Lochlyn Munro, William Forsythe, Patrick Warburton, Frank Collison and C. Ernst Harth, then you know you are in capable hands. There were some funny enough moments throughout the course of the 98 minutes that the movie ran for. However, you should not expect "Camouflage" to be an over-the-top spoof and slapstick comedy, that Leslie Nielsen were known for. A good amount of light comedy spruced up the crime story nicely. I was genuinely entertained by "Camouflage" and I had been missing out on a great performance from Leslie Nielsen here. If you have the chance to sit down and watch "Camouflage", you should definitely do so. My rating of "Camouflage" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Sure, there are some laughs in it. But compared to films like "Spy Hard" this one sure comes up short. The writing is pretty dreadful. And I don't think I've seen the Great Nielsen swear in a film before. I'm definitely not a prude and cuss with the best of them, but it's really not needed here. Just write some funnier lines for Pete's sake!

I never thought I'd say this, but this Leslie Nielsen comedy is actually worse than "Repossessed", the parody of "The Exorcist" that came and flatlined a decade before this did and nearly put Nielsen back on the list of actors whose career was in danger of being more unpopular than pea soup. Fortunately Nielsen made more wise choices than bad ones, but choosing this film was not one of the former. Perhaps not his fault because gag comedy is probably the most difficult to predict, and while he has the timing, in this case, those gags land like timed stink bombs. He's paired with young Lochlyn Munro as an actor researching a part as a private investigator and aides Nielsen with a murder investigation. Little spark is ignited by Vanessa Angel as the love interest, and groans, not laughs, come out of the string of bad puns and malapropisms and metaphors that Nielsen rattles off one after another. After the success of "The Naked Gun", a slew of horrible similar style films came out that flopped critically and often commercially. By the time this came out, the genre of verbal comedy had seen it nadir, and the crudeness of much of the dialog brings on groans not giggles. Interesting element to see AND hear Patrick Warburton, the voice of handicapped Joe Swanson on "Family Guy". A few reluctant chuckles doesn't change the fact that this is wretched, although stage actor Tom Aldredge does get laughs with every lime he has as the wheelchair bound Mr. Pond and raises this up one notch.

Having suffered a variety of sentimental and professional setbacks, a young actor/director is facing ruin. Thankfully he meets an ageing private eye, who offers him a job out of pity. The first investigation of our young hopeful goes south at an alarming rate. Soon he's looking at the dirty linen of a little rural town seething with lust, greed and avarice... "Camouflage" is a mix of comedy and thriller. Although it features the great Leslie Nielsen, as the ageing private eye, it is not a masterpiece : both the comedy and the thriller angles could be far better. On the other hand this is not the worst thing ever made. There's a good joke or line here and there and some of the minor characters are magnificently weird. You'll notice how the movie has fun with a thundering great cliché, to wit the small town full of louche, backwards and inbred inhabitants. This is a classic - just as its opposite number, the small town full of simple and saintly souls who spend 99 % of their time baking apple pie for orphans. A rating of four or five stars seems about right, here.

Well, that was definitely a disappointment. Back then, in 2001, me and my friend raced over who would watch more movies starring (Leslie Nielson) than the other. Yes, not all of his movies were at the same quality, but we loved him as a 70-year-old crazy comedian. Though when it came to this one, we were in shock, and couldn't believe! The only good Camouflage in here was its propaganda as another comedy from the main star of Hollywood parodies in the 1990s, especially with cartoony opening credits like the Pink Panther movies. (Camouflage) turned out to be (Nielson)'s try to take off the robe of farce which had been cohered to him for quite sometime. But it didn't work. As a serious actor, the movie didn't provide him with nothing serious to perform. And as a comedian, he didn't make fun of (Bogart)'s familiar antics as the typical private detective of the 1940s, or even made something of his own as a parody or else. He stood in a tasteless middle, and I think it's not his fault utterly, it's in that script! The script strived to be noir comedy, or merely noir about the world's materialism, but the result was uneven, average or less than average, mishmash. I discovered lately that (Billy Bob Thornton) was the story's writer, and the screenplay's co-writer. Although (Thornton) was a writer or co-writer of 8 movies, till now, but this was the only one he made under the name of (Reginald Perry)?! Maybe they messed big time with his work, so he went to the (Alan Smithee) of the writers. Or maybe he noticed late that he delivered something that messy, so went on to remove his name off it. By the way, according to (Thornton)'s performance, in any of his movies, it extremely horrifies me to imagine him participating in writing any kind of comedy! And they made it R-rated for what exactly? To allure audience by sex jokes, and nudity?! What a cheap way of making movies, or rather earning money! Speaking about cheapness, just look at the movie's poster on the IMDb, with the crooked pistol. This is how to turn off anybody out of your movie. It's scarily poor and unattractive as if done by untalented 7-year-old kid! So how to define this movie anyway? Hmmm, let's see, it's not a pure comedy, or a black comedy, or a small noir movie, or an action as the IMDb alleges!, or even a parody of anything. OH GOD.. What is it? I'll tell you, it's not a new category; it's a very old one: A "weak" movie! Most probably the target was making a noir, however after casting (Nielson), the production went to the comic approach. But it ended up as a cross between seriousness and silliness. It has a positive side though, which's being a good example of the bad way of mixing genres!

In this run of the mill noir parody, but from his first lines you'll recognize he's in his metier here,. He gets all the best lines, and he's really on. Worth seeing, but only for him in one of his funnest performances.

I have always been a huge Leslie Nielsen fan. I loved Naked Gun and Police Squad. And the movie Dracula Dead and Loving it. There are so many great great movies that Leslie starred in. But I would definitely not recommend this movie. But this movie really discredited Leslie. It was not funny at all and He actually used such Foul language that I have never heard him use before, including the F word (several times) Again if you are a fan of Leslie as I am do not watch this movie or you will be greatly disappointed.It is definitely not a funny movie and there is a lot of sexual comments that children should be kept away from viewing this movie as well. Leslie what happened to your clean and funny humor?