| Director: Danny DeVito, Barry Sonnenfeld, Joe Napolitano |
Writer: Stu Silver |
| Run time: 88 minutes |
Release date: 1987-12-11 |
| Floor location: Comedy |
Format: DVD |
| Production Countries: United States of America |
| Spoken Languages: English |
Larry Donner, an author with a cruel ex-wife, teaches a writing workshop in which one of his students, Owen, is fed up with his domineering mother. When Owen watches a Hitchcock classic that seems to mirror his own life, he decides to put the movie's plot into action and offers to kill Larry's ex-wife, if Larry promises to murder his mom. Before Larry gets a chance to react to the plan, it seems that Owen has already set things in motion.
This rather dark comedy features Billy Crystal as the writing professor Larry Donner. Larry has a miserable ex-wife that stole his novel and became rich and famous over it. One of Larry’s students, Owen Lift, brilliantly played by Danny DeVito gets inspired by a Hitchcock film to “swap murders” and “criss-cross”, thereby eliminating motives fatal to any successful murder. Owen kills Larry’s ex-wife and expects Larry to kill his overbearing mother, played by the incomparable Anne Ramsey, in return. I appreciate the references to and the re-imagining of the Hitchcock classic, Strangers on a Train, and recommend this film!