I remember seeing the glowing reviews when I was younger, and when the movie came out on videotape I was anxious to see it, and saw it with my mother and aunt. We were so glad we didn't spend the money to see it in the theater.
Yes, the premise is that Chance is supposed to be an idiot spouting simple phrases, and the idea is that people mistake it for profundity, or at least make these statements profound with their own wishful thinking. Yes, people can be fooled initially. BUT...
All Chance does is keep spouting simple phrases and otherwise staring out vacuously. And nobody gets suspicious? Worse yet, Chance is shown to have no feelings. He is completely indifferent to the death of the man he lived under for decades. We could laugh at the idea of idiocy being taken for profundity (happens all the time in real life), but there's nothing funny about someone without feelings.
As another poster remarked, Peter Sellers was evidently a worse psychological basket case than his biographies said.
I decided to add a few things, in light of the surprising number of glowing reviews this movie has had. Of course there are always people who think a particular movie, no matter how bad it really is, is something wonderful and meaningful. But in this movie, I find that those who praise this movie fail to understand that they are the ones being mocked by the storyline.
The premise is that people who are rich and powerful are all taken in by the idea that Chance is a genius rather than the brain-dead person he really is. I was waiting to see how everyone was going to react when they realized who Chance really was, but that never happens. People who have gotten where they were through guile and ambition are so gullible as all that? Nobody gets suspicious over a man with no apparent background, not even any home or family? I would have found it infinitely more believable if the rich and powerful actually knew Chance was just a simpleton, and manipulated him as a front man, but that is not what happens in this story.
As for the claim that Chance was only misinterpreted as especially brilliant because he was white, and wouldn't be if he were black, that idea was made obsolete with the election of President Obama. He was hyped as a messiah who would work miracles, and as it turns out he is at best just another politician.
Yes, the premise is that Chance is supposed to be an idiot spouting simple phrases, and the idea is that people mistake it for profundity, or at least make these statements profound with their own wishful thinking. Yes, people can be fooled initially. BUT...
All Chance does is keep spouting simple phrases and otherwise staring out vacuously. And nobody gets suspicious? Worse yet, Chance is shown to have no feelings. He is completely indifferent to the death of the man he lived under for decades. We could laugh at the idea of idiocy being taken for profundity (happens all the time in real life), but there's nothing funny about someone without feelings.
As another poster remarked, Peter Sellers was evidently a worse psychological basket case than his biographies said.
I decided to add a few things, in light of the surprising number of glowing reviews this movie has had. Of course there are always people who think a particular movie, no matter how bad it really is, is something wonderful and meaningful. But in this movie, I find that those who praise this movie fail to understand that they are the ones being mocked by the storyline.
The premise is that people who are rich and powerful are all taken in by the idea that Chance is a genius rather than the brain-dead person he really is. I was waiting to see how everyone was going to react when they realized who Chance really was, but that never happens. People who have gotten where they were through guile and ambition are so gullible as all that? Nobody gets suspicious over a man with no apparent background, not even any home or family? I would have found it infinitely more believable if the rich and powerful actually knew Chance was just a simpleton, and manipulated him as a front man, but that is not what happens in this story.
As for the claim that Chance was only misinterpreted as especially brilliant because he was white, and wouldn't be if he were black, that idea was made obsolete with the election of President Obama. He was hyped as a messiah who would work miracles, and as it turns out he is at best just another politician.