Purely Joyful Movie!

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Eliot (Jeffrey Jones) runs an esteemed detective agency for the Crumb family. The founding Crumbs were exceedingly talented but the present heir and gumshoe, Harry (John Candy) is a bumbling stooge. Therefore, when Eliot arranges a kidnapping of a rich man's daughter, so he and the girl's stepmother (Annie Potts) can run off and get married with money, he makes a suggestion to the gal's wealthy father (Barry Corbin). He, Eliot, will put his BEST detective on the case, namely Harry, and the crime will be solved....NOT. What Eliot doesn't count on is that stepmommy is stringing three men along and, that when Harry teams up with the kidnapped lass' sister, the former bungler may solve the napping. How will it end? All right, some fans may say this is Candy's worst couple of hours and that the film doesn't work. Yes, its a weaker version of The Naked Gun and other such flicks but Candy is a great comedian. So, watching him whip out a bunch of stupid disguises and have a series of physical mishaps, to me, is quite amusing. I laughed and laughed even as I groaned. Jones, Potts, Corbin, and all of the other cast members do "cute" work, too. The setting, costumes, low-brow script and lively direction make a film that is definitely worth watching, especially when one is in the doldrums. The question is not Who's Harry Crumb but where can I get this funny film tonight?

I love (John Candy). However I hate seeing him in something less than his capacities. This movie is one. It seems like they did it in 2 weeks. The plot is simple with one kidnapping, and the comedy is even simpler with farce along the talking scenes, and little clowning sequences as well. (Candy) suffers from being in his fattest conditions. The many disguises of him weren't close to funny. Some of the jokes were pure pathetic. And save the first sequence, the action comedy didn't dazzle or make laughs.Nevertheless, it's watchable and light. (Shawnee Smith) is so cute as the she-sidekick. Although (Smith) went later to TV, establishing herself successfully as the "dumb beautiful girl", but I feel sad that she missed the opportunity of doing other lead roles in more comedy movies or even rom-coms. The supporting roles are played by good actors. I adore the soundtrack; having a true piece of the 80s's best soft music and songs (the intro music is on the top). The pace moves nicely without any slacking along the way. In fact, the feel of slacking comes from your feeling that you have seen all of that before and maybe better.After (Trail of the Pink Panther – 1982), then (Curse of the Pink Panther – 1983), the series stopped due to (Peter Sellers)'s death, added to the outrageous flop that (Curse..) was, with the new Panther (Ted Wass). So in the 10 years gab between (Curse..) and the late sequel (Son of the Pink Panther – 1993), the dumb detective's role was used once more and filled this time by (John Candy). If you asked yourself how would it be if (Insp. Clouseau) became a private eye, working under the authority of decayed (Chief Insp. Dreyfus) ? (Who's Harry Crumb) is a good answer. As a comedy, it lacks the human touch that distinguished other Candy's works like (Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Uncle Buck,..). And even as a farcical cartoon, it's pretty old stuff. Anyway, to judge fairly; this is funny time. But not so funny !

Throughout most of his career, John Candy starred in innocuously silly movies like "Who's Harry Crumb?". The whole thing seems like an excuse to just be goofy, with Candy as a bumbling detective hired to solve the kidnapping of an heiress. The shenanigans in which the family and its associates are engaging seem like they could be the plot on their own. But anyway, this is nice, brainless humor at its finest, especially the scene in the vent. Too bad that John Candy died so young. Pretty funny movie.Also starring Jeffrey Jones, Annie Potts (Janine in "Ghostbusters"), Tim Thomerson (of "Trancers"), Barry Corbin and Shawnee Smith (of the "Saw" movies).

I just saw this film on local TV Sunday Night,June 17th. I had heard of this film for a long time but never had the chance to see it. Being a late 1980s comedy,I was sure it would be crummy.The movie started out kind of slow for me,I felt it took too long to demonstrate that the bolts of Harry's brain are missing a nut or two. A few of the gags didn't work for me as well but then,thankfully the ball got rolling and so did I! Those having seen this know that Harry's has been hired to fail in the solving of a kidnapped young heiress case,because of his incompetence. Those behind it are the very people who did hire him. I think the first really funny thing Harry said that let me know this would be good after all was,"If we can find the crazy typewriter that made this ransom note,we'll have our man!" Referring to the pieced together note from magazine letters. Talk about a cuckoo lose in your clockwork!Harry also manages to get his tie caught in a paper shredder,go flying through his employer's office on a runaway exercise bike,goes flying through an air vent system of a hotel dressed as an Arabic air-conditioner repairman.He's assisted by the sister of the heiress,played by then teen Shawnee Smith,who went on to play Linda the receptionist,on Ted Danson's CBS comedy "Becker". She likes Harry but knows he really doesn't have a real idea of what he's doing. She doesn't hurt him by saying so,despite how he talks like a man whose watched to many TV detective shows. She doesn't want to see him fail and look more foolish than he does.Annie Potts is great as the mother of the heiress,who could care less if her daughter lives or dies and is a wonderful villainous "B". (If you get my meaning. The male players are nit-wits also but only because they foul things up for themselves by both being attracted to Potts. (She looks fantastic in this by the way).In his own befuddled way,Harry comes out victorious in solving the case,rent-borrow or buy he movie and find out how all the little crumbs lead Harry to bread. 8 out of 10,two off for the slow start and jokes that didn't work. Otherwise,"Harry" was hilarious. (END)