Staring: Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Richard Libertini, Penny Peyser, Nancy Dussault, James Hong, Ed Begley Jr, Carmen Dragon

No foolin’ – it’s all funnin’ this April when The Deuce introduces you to the insanity of THE IN-LAWS!! A shower of silliness that blooms into a bush of bonkers… Comedy! Chaos!! Action!!! Adventure!!!! Comedic action! Chaotic comedy!! Adventuresome adventure!!! Don’t be a fool – come get some of all the above when THE IN-LAWS visit The Deuce!!

Uptighty dutiful dullard dentist Sheldon Kornpett (Arkin), with a dull house/dutiful family in the ‘burbs and a molar-removal practice in Manhattan, gets browbeaten into bonding with his daughter’s soon-to-be dad-in-law: the scattershoty, possibly psychotic, possible CIA operative Vince Ricardo (Falk)… who’s given to “regaling” his future extended family with tales of Guatemalan eagle-sized tsetse flies so furious they steal babies and the provisions of the “Guacamole Act of 1917″… to further bewilder the dutiful dentist – his future… brother-in-law?? Whatever the batty-brained possible CIA operative will upon their scion’s wedding be gets him embroiled in a possibly treasonous imbroglio that takes these mis-matched maniacs from a terrifying taxi-ride through the NYC midtown streets (and sidewalks… and public plazas… and..) to a Latin American dictatorship run by a despot with a Señor Wences complex and a curiously louche and gauche “art collection”… all in all… SERPENTINE!

Directed by Canadian (“they never stop talking”) transplant Hiller (between SILVER STREAK and (?!?) NIGHTWING) from a script by funny-man Andrew Bregman (between BLAZING SADDLES and (!!) SO FINE) – the two finding a rare balancing act of “Action Comedy” that doesn’t short-shrift either – and with a Falk/Arkin pairing that is pitch-perfect… with Arkin’s deadpanny near-panic thousand-yard stare playing off of Falk’s worldly wordy wack-a-doo swagger… their ease together seeming as though they’d duo’d a million movies already – but they hadn’t!!  And when drudgingly remade in 2003 (albeit with two perfectly fine likeable actors, Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks), Arkin couldn’t stop calling Falk to gloat over all the great reviews they retrospectively were getting in comparison!!

SEE: the movie that got Brando to agree to star in THE FRESHMAN – Marlon having been such a super-fan as to be able to imitate almost the whole of Arkin’s performance!  SEE: the movie that made Janet Maslin laugh so hard she…  forgot to take notes!! SEE: why the Beekman Theatre needed to steam-clean their seats in between showings!!! It’s April (golden) showers with The Deuce and THE IN-LAWS!