Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Sometime in 1989, my parents rented Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on VHS from our local video store. I didn't like the movie at the time, but the older I get and the more times I watch, the more I enjoy this one.

Steve Martin plays Freddy, an amateur, boorish con artist trying to make inroads on the French Riviera. Michael Caine plays Lawrence, a slick, debonair con-man himself who has dominated the same territory for years, conning dozens of women and amassing a great personal fortune.

The two con men simply cannot co-exist in the Riviera town. They cannot work together and they really don't really get along, but neither will leave the Riviera, so they make a wager:

Together, they choose a woman, and the first one to con her out of $50,000 wins the bet and gets to stay. The loser goes away, never to return to the area.

The rest of the film is an exchange of wits, as Freddy and Lawrence take turns outsmarting each other, victimizing each other, and putting each other in compromising positions. There really aren't many laugh-out-loud moments, but this doesn't go for the "LOL" moment, instead preferring to keep things dry. Few films so eloquently capture the essence of dramatic irony — a smart audience knows what is happening even as the characters don't.

I've always considered the plot rather thin. There are some great lines and some even greater subtext, such as when Steve Martin's character rolls up in a wheelchair behind Michael Caine's chair at the roulette table. The look on Michael Caine's face is gold. So many well-timed moments and pitch-perfect dialogue...why didn't I like this film back then?

Simple: I was 14.

Now that I'm older and my sense of humor has evolved beyond dick and fart jokes (somewhat), films like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels are right in my wheelhouse — smart, dry, and quotable in the best way.

For $5 in the local Best Buy bargain bin, I couldn't pass up Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Plus, this film comes fully endorsed by the wife, who rarely endorses my shiny disc purchases so wholeheartedly. Dry humor and the Brits are like Marmite and water. Watching Dirty Rotten Scoundrels tonight was her idea.

And then she fell asleep on the couch.

p.s. I can never get over Ian McDiarmid as Arthur in this film. I keep expecting him to shoot lightning from his hands, especially when Steve Martin's character is kissing them.