Off Beat *** (1986, Judge Reinhold, Meg Tilly, Cleavant Derricks, Joe Mantegna, Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Fred Gwynne) – Classic Movie Review 12,202

Meg Tilly stars with Rob Lowe in Masquerade.

Judge Reinhold recalls Off Beat (1986) as ‘a little love story they tried to sell as a comedy. It wasn’t marketed right, but I was proud of it.’ 

Judge Reinhold stars as roller-skating bookworm young librarian Joe Gower, who is swept off his feet by woman police officer Rachel Wareham (Meg Tilly) when he poses as a cop at a charity dance performance, in director Michael Dinner’s quirky 1986 comedy Off Beat.

The two leads are appealing, and the movie buff’s cast (Joe Mantegna, Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Fred Gwynne) continually turns up trumps with involving performances. But the script proves very daft and flimsy to support such heavyweight acting talent.

Off Beat is an intriguing curio, perhaps all too offbeat for its own good, but it is likeable and entertaining.

The cast include Judge Reinhold, Meg Tilly, Cleavant Derricks, Joe Mantegna, Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Fred Gwynne, Mark Medoff, Jacques D’Ambrose, James Tolkan, Austin Pendleton, Anthony Zerbe, Penn Jillette, Chris Noth [Christopher Noth], Victor Argo, Julie Bovasso, and William Sadler [Bill Sadler].

Writers: Dezsö Magyar (story) and Mark Medoff (screenplay).

The same year Mark Medoff wrote the screenplay for the film Children of a Lesser God based on his stage play. He won Broadway’s 1980 Tony Award as author of the Best Play winner Children of a Lesser God. Off Beat was his third screenplay.

Reinhold recalled the film was ‘a little love story they tried to sell as a comedy. It wasn’t marketed right. It wasn’t a Police Academy clone movie but people got the impression that it was. It was a pretty tame movie by those standards, but I was proud of it.’

It was advertised as ‘This year’s most arresting comedy’, but the public did not agree. A box office failure, it cost $10 million, and earned $4,117,061 (US), though it had a champion in Roger Ebert, who called it one of the year’s best comedies.

The cast are Judge Reinhold as Joe Gower, Meg Tilly as Rachel Wareham, John Turturro as Pepper, Cleavant Derricks as Abe Washington, Jacques d’Amboise as August, Harvey Keitel as Mickey, Joe Mantegna as Pete Peterson, Amy Wright as Mary Ellen, Anthony Zerbe as Mr Wareham, Julie Bovasso as Mrs Wareham, Victor Argo as Leon, Penn Jillette as Norman, Mel Winkler as Earl, Irving Metzman as Deluca, Mike Starr as James Bonnell, Shawn Elliott as Hector, Stanley Simmonds as Pud, Nancy Giles as Celestine, Paul Butler as Jordan, John Kapelos as Lou Wareham, William Sadler [Bill Sadler] as Dickson, Chris Noth [Christopher Noth] as Ely Wareham Jr and Austin Pendleton as Gun Shop Salesman.

Meg Tilly stars with Rob Lowe in Masquerade.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,202

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com