Night Shift

source: Night Shift

source: Night Shift

I just cannot believe that such epic fail reached the theaters. This movie absolutely lacks script, plot, humour, any intelligible ideas and anyhting else to call it a movie. Never watch it! DVD was trashed immediately after yawning aloud thtough this disappointment and stupidity - thank god it cost just $0.10 in a lot of DVDs I recently bought. Whomever approved this script, paid the filming and the director are absolutely insane braindeads who should be kicked out of the movie business immediately. Still can't believe this stupid reel of film exists. Lousy and pale attempt to reinact the Animal House madness married with a dull, pointless and illogical script.

This movie was awful. i had heard about this movie for so many years, but never saw it, so i figured i would watch it, over the course of a week. i sat through scene after scene waiting for it to get ok, but it never did. just a terrible humorless ridiculous implausible movie. winkler was awful in it and no wonder he wasn't in any other movies. keaton is insufferable, how he ever became popular is a mystery, because he was awful in both this and gung ho which came out a few years later. shelley long was ok, but that's about it. this movie had nothing.

This movie rocks. The cast, the soundtrack, the writing, the timing, it has it all. It is not your typical 80's movie, although a lot of movies were (and still are) being made where this one takes place in New York City. The plot is quite simple as Michael Keaton (Billy Blazejowski) and Henry Winkler (Chuck Lumley) work on the night shift at a morgue. Billy is an idea man,(he wants to feed mayonaisse to tuna to simplify the process of having to mix the mayo with the tuna) while Chuck is seems less and less content spending time when he can alone with his neurotic girlfriend. One day as he arrived at his apartment building, Chuck bumps into his neighbor, Shelly Long, after she had been beaten up by her pimp. Chuck later shares her plight with Billy Blaze. Well, it's at that point that Billy suggests that he and Chuck should run an escort service out of the morgue at night as pimps for Chuck's neighbor. The hilarity begins well before that, as there are too many quotes to list. I will say that once they become "LOVEBROKERS", as Billy so entusiastically suggested, their lifestyles change as the main characters' Parsons allow. This is a great movie that I now proudly own. You should too, if you're into first rate comedies about prostitution and pimp daddies. I know I am.

This movie finds it's humor in seeing the absurdity of situations that are unusual but not completely unbelievable. The characters are memorable, especially as Henry Winkler plays a role that is a complete departure from previous roles and he does so convincingly. Winkler is a great straight man to Michael Keaton's high energy "idea man" and Shelley Long is well cast as the quintessential hooker-with-a-heart of gold. It's a very 80's film, but one that has stood the test of time. Even if the story line is "formula" it produces exactly the result you would expect: it's a loud, colorful, rollicking good time. It may be dated, but it is still funny after all these years.

If you love Michael Keaton in early 80s comedy, then Night Shift is definitely recommended for you. He and Henry Winkler as a pair of mismatched oddballs make the perfect comic duo in this Ron Howard comedy. Henry Winkler is the soft spoken, timid Chuck Lumley. He's a moper, and works at the city morgue, which is where he meets the wild Bill Blazejowski (Michael Keaton), an absolute fun-loving weirdo with a headful of crazy get-rich-quick ideas. Bill wants Chuck to be his partner for his next business venture: they're going to run a high class prostitution ring out of the city morgue. The idea sounds stupid, but it is well-meaning in some regards, since these are career prostitutes who've gotten pushed around for too long. Bill and Chuck are going to be their friendly godpimps, and help them be successful, high class hookers. Their clientelle are kind, jolly fellows, and the pimps (Chuck and Bill) are always good to the girls. And they all make a sh*tload of cash. Unfortunately, in trying to create this romantic comedy aspect (Chuck falls in love with Belinda--Shelly Long--who is one of the hookers), it glamorizes prostitution, which is pretty sad and at the same time, pretty stupid. Also, while Chuck and Bill are having their fun, a pimp and his goon (Richard Belzer and Badja Djola)want to know where all of their girls have gone and why, if someone else is running the business, they haven't been given a cut of the profits. They're a dangerous pair (although, they turn out to be pretty wimpy in the end). The movie becomes a combination of the Odd Couple as Bill tries to invovle Chuck in all sorts of his crazy ideas once the prostitution gimmick picks up and becomes quite successful. Chuck, it being part of his nature to always do things safely and not too spontaneously, gradually becomes annoyed with Bill, especially when Bill's ideas start to get him in a whole lot of trouble. Though, in Bill's defense, he does try to help his friend out by trying to get him to stand up for himself and quit being afraid of everything. Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton are terrific here in all of their zany antics. The other half of the movie is something like Irma La Douce in that Belinda is the lovely prostitute that Chuck has fallen for. And, once he does, he doesn't want her hooking anymore. Shelly Long was also quite good in this movie, and a natural, as always. What an underrated actress. Night Shift is a pretty good comedy with a great cast that makes a somewhat stupid story work great. The dialogue is just absolutely silly (like when Bill and Chuck are fighting in the office and all Bill can say is as he's crashing through glass and junk is that Bill should be careful because Chuck's wearing white).

Unattractive, witless, offensive movie directed by a bored Ron Howard. Story concerns morgue workers who become pimps while working the night shift. Allegedly based on a true incident, this must be the ugliest movie ever set in New York City, with a sitcom-driven plot and bad jokes followed by pauses for a non-existent laugh-track. Performances by Henry Winkler and Shelley Long are good and elevate this above trash-level, but Michael Keaton is wearing (and his over-the-top hamming certainly can't save the grueling final ten minutes, which is more excruciating than the entire length of "Splash"). "Is this a great country or what?"...not when movie-lovers praise a comedy with no comic-timing and the kind of fantasy-prostitutes who can't wait to jump into the sack. *1/2 from ****

Here is another of Ron Howard's earlier movies that are on the irreverent side with typical twisted Hollywood values. For the millionth time, we also have the lovable, sentimental women playing hookers (give me a break!) who are helped out in a time of distress by another lovable goof-ball (Michael Keaton) who, of course, has no morals, either. That's why he's portrayed as someone to root for, as is our old pal "Fonzi" from "Happy Days." Yes, Henry Winkler is here playing another creep whom Howard makes look appealing even though he abandons his nice fiancé for a hooker (Shelly Long). Nowhere in all of this does it indicate Winkler or anyone else is doing the wrong thing. There were some humorous moments in here, but not a third as many as the hype for this film would have you believe. Overall, just a worthless piece of trash.

source: Night Shift