"Last Resort" involves an island retreat that seems cut price and crappy less as a plot development than a necessity of the movie's cut price and crappy production values. You aren't thinking, hey, that accommodation really sucks, you're thinking, of course it does. They couldn't afford to make a resort that sucks in a funny way.
Part of the problem is that you never get an idea of the place as an actual location, which could be due to the lack of suitable shooting locations afforded by the budget. What locations there are seem completely separate from each other, and none of the staff are distinct characters outside of some weird tics.
What is unforgivable about this is that this movie stars both Jon Lovitz AND Phil Hartman. Neither are given much to do, or anything funny. They may not have had much money to make the movie, but they had comedic gold in their hands with the talent they were working with. They should've just let Lovitz and Hartman improvise.
Hartman, in particular, is wasted. Lovitz at least has one scene where he is within his comic element as a bartender so arrogant he can't or won't speak any language in a way that might be understood by anyone. He doesn't have any funny lines or anything, it's more funny because it's Jon Lovitz, so you start laughing in preparation for a joke that never really comes.
The movie is about a guy who wants to take his family for a good vacation, but ends up getting screwed in ridiculous ways - sound familiar? Charles Grodin is passable in the lead, but his wife, older son and daughter are dispensable. The older son, particularly, seems to have been chosen for his resemblance to Chevy Chase's son in one (or all?) of the "Vacation" movies. It's the younger son who stands out as a capable performer, though IMDb says he hasn't done much else.
I guess Lovitz and Hartman couldn't complain: they may have been in a movie that didn't appreciate their talent, but the actor who played the kid was in an industry that didn't.
Part of the problem is that you never get an idea of the place as an actual location, which could be due to the lack of suitable shooting locations afforded by the budget. What locations there are seem completely separate from each other, and none of the staff are distinct characters outside of some weird tics.
What is unforgivable about this is that this movie stars both Jon Lovitz AND Phil Hartman. Neither are given much to do, or anything funny. They may not have had much money to make the movie, but they had comedic gold in their hands with the talent they were working with. They should've just let Lovitz and Hartman improvise.
Hartman, in particular, is wasted. Lovitz at least has one scene where he is within his comic element as a bartender so arrogant he can't or won't speak any language in a way that might be understood by anyone. He doesn't have any funny lines or anything, it's more funny because it's Jon Lovitz, so you start laughing in preparation for a joke that never really comes.
The movie is about a guy who wants to take his family for a good vacation, but ends up getting screwed in ridiculous ways - sound familiar? Charles Grodin is passable in the lead, but his wife, older son and daughter are dispensable. The older son, particularly, seems to have been chosen for his resemblance to Chevy Chase's son in one (or all?) of the "Vacation" movies. It's the younger son who stands out as a capable performer, though IMDb says he hasn't done much else.
I guess Lovitz and Hartman couldn't complain: they may have been in a movie that didn't appreciate their talent, but the actor who played the kid was in an industry that didn't.