Roxanne (1987)

 Roxanne (1987)

If you are a romantic soul and in search of sweet, romantic fluff, look no further than 1987’s Roxanne. Written by and starring Steve Martin, this romantic comedy is one of Martin’s underrated films. In fact, I found it strange I never heard of the movie until I randomly saw a DVD at a yard sale and the plot appealed to me. This movie is Martin’s take on the age-old 1890 play Cyrano de Bergerac. The themes are universal and certainly applied to me. Everyone, including adults, are afraid of being laughed at due to some body appendage or appearance issue. Myself, not the most handsome man in the world, can easily relate to this theme of being afraid to find love because of how one looks. I think Martin does a wonderful job applying those themes to his comedy. That said, this is also an 80’s romantic comedy so it does border on the sappy side. And that prosthetic nose! I could not stop staring at that thing…but perhaps that is the point. Steve Martin said it took 90 minutes each day to apply the fake nose to his face. I can imagine how annoying that would be!

Martin began writing the film in the early 80’s of course taking inspiration from the play and the Jose Ferrer film also inspired from the very same play. This time around, Martin decided to change the ending and felt it was a great idea to actually have the man get the girl this time around. That, of course, satisfies the heart of any romantic film lover, so good move, Mr. Martin. Columbia studios loved the script and hired Fred Schepisi to direct. His direction was competent, but its really the screenplay and the performances that stood out to me. While this movie has a tender side, there are scenes that are riotously hilarious. The scene where Martin’s character has like fifty comebacks to his nose is on point…and that sequence where Martin and Rick Rossovich’s character are communicating over radio to get the girl.

In the Canadian town of Nelson, the chief of the fire department, C.D Bales (Steve Martin) is known for his overlarge nose. He also leads a very incompetent staff of firemen. They are so bad, the people don’t trust them…even if their house is on fire. C.D decides to hire a handsome fireman named Chris (Rich Rossovich) to help his squad. He arrives in town within the same day that C.D’s friend, Dixie (Shelley Duvall) rents out her house to a gorgeous astronomy student named Roxanne (Daryl Hannah). Both men fall in love with her, but she only has eyes for Chris. Roxanne asks C.D to help her date Chris and he asks the same. Lacking the courage to express his feelings, C.D writes poetic romantic notes that wins over Roxanne. The problem is that she thinks Chris wrote them despite saying nothing to her except remarks about her body.

The performances are solid throughout. This is the perfect role for Steve Martin. A good combination of tenderness and comedy. His scene with the comebacks is a scene for the ages! Daryl Hannah was recommended by Columbia’s Production Chief and that was a good choice. Between this and Splash, Hannah made a name for herself within the romantic comedy genre in the 1980’s. There are great performances within the supporting cast as well; Fred Willard as the town’s pompous mayor, Michael J. Pollard (the getaway driver from Bonnie and Clyde) as a weird firefighter, and Kevin Nealon as one of the drunks picking a fight with C.D. I did not enjoy Duvall’s performance as much.

It is strange to call Roxanne an underrated film of Martin’s despite the good reviews. It just does not seem to get as much recognition as his other films. Personally, I enjoyed it. It is a funny movie that can be overbearingly sweet and saccharine at times. But the themes that it conveys do speak out to me…and they bring me hope. If a character that has a long nose that when “sniffing” wine means inhaling it can win over the girl of his dreams, so can I! That fake nose must have been the butt of many jokes when the film was first released. But that is an 80’s movie for you!

My Grade: B