Opportunity Knocks (PG-13)

Comedies are often just a collaboration of slapstick jokes jumbled together for 90 minutes of senseless, albeit successful attempts at laughter. On occasion, the hysteria can blend in with a great plot and the result is not only a funny movie, but a truly great one. This is the case with the 1990s’ highly underrated gem, “Opportunity Knocks.”

The late ’80s and early ’90s saw the peak success of the long-running television show “Saturday Night Live,” and that was due primarily to the litany of comedic actors that were present on the cast at that time (Adam Sandler, Will Farrell, Mike Myers, and Chris Farley to name a few) that would all go on to very successful film careers. The humor from “Opportunity Knocks” revolves primarily around the movie’s star, “SNL” alum and comic/impressionist Dana Carvey.

The film, taking place in Chicago, begins with the shenanigans of a pair of long-time best friends and two-bit con artists, Eddie Farrel (Carvey) And Lou Pesquino (Todd Graff) who pillage chump-change by staging car accidents. Lou has recently placed some bad bets with the city’s thuggish bookie, Pinky (Mike Bacarella). They burglarize a house, much to the chagrin of Eddie, who chastises Lou. “We are not break-in artists, we are con artists.” Nevertheless, they need quick money to pay off Pinky.

Inside the lakeside palace, they overhear a message left on the answering machine for the home owner David, who is in India for several months; David’s best friend Jonathan, the would-be house sitter, is calling to advise he has been offered a job in Seattle and will not be able to make the trip. Eddie and Lou realize they can stay in David’s house as long as they want. Eddie then confides in Lou that he doesn’t want to be a low-life forever, craving a wife, family, and house of his own.

Pinky manages to infuriate them again after they pay him off, and to abstract revenge, they steal his car and go joyriding. The fun is short lived after they find out the car does not belong to Pinky, but actually belongs to infamous crime boss Sal Nichols (the highly recognizable James Tolkan). They quickly ditch the car and run, leaving behind (unbeknownst to them) a briefcase with $60,000 in cash in the trunk.  Sal dispatches his men to get the money back and Eddie and Lou flee their dingy apartment.

With no money and nowhere else to turn, Eddie goes back to David’s house to lay low. The next morning, David’s parents Milt and Mona (Robert Loggia and Doris Belack) arrive expecting to find David’s friend, and make the assumption when they discover Eddie coming out of the shower that he is Jonathan Albertson (whom they have heard legendary stories of from their son but have never met). The uncultured and non-college educated Eddie is able to use his street smarts and gift of conning to blend in with the high end society and pull off the role of the Harvard graduate and business mogul Jonathan.

Eddie uses practical talents, thoughts, and his excellent people skills to land a VP job in Milt’s company and begins to woo their daughter Annie (Julia Campbell); and while this is done at first to gain access to family money, he begins to fall in love with the regular life he is pretending to live.

’90s pizazz runs rampant with a great soundtrack (several songs of which I have already downloaded) and crazy clothing. The technology in its own right will give you a chuckle – at one point Eddie is operating and reacting to a cordless phone as though it’s from outer space, and later a car phone the size of a toaster. The rapport between Carvey and Graff is off the charts and the story and humor, though much of it predictable, creates a truly funny and great comedic movie.

– by Matt Christopher