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Pure Luck

Play trailer Poster for Pure Luck PG Released Aug 9, 1991 1h 36m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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15% Tomatometer 13 Reviews 60% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
When Valerie Highsmith (Sheila Kelley) goes missing in Mexico, it isn't too surprising, as she is generally acknowledged as having the worst luck in the world. What is surprising is that veteran investigator Raymond Campanella (Danny Glover) can't find her. Then an executive at Valerie's father's company has the idea to send Proctor (Martin Short) from accounting along with Raymond. Proctor, it turns out, also possesses terrible luck -- and is sure to tumble into the same mess Valerie did.
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Pure Luck

Critics Reviews

View All (13) Critics Reviews
Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Rated: D- Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Nell Minow Movie Mom Rated: 1/5 Jul 16, 2004 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times This is not a bad idea for a movie. But Pure Luck is a bad movie, all right -- with leaden timing, a disorganized screenplay, and stretches where nothing much of interest seems to be happening. Rated: 1.5/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami) Martin Short has a few inspired moments here, but they aren't sufficient. [Full review in Spanish] Jan 20, 2023 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews ...a decidedly broad premise that’s employed to erratic yet mostly agreeable effect by Nadia Tass... Rated: 2.5/4 Jul 10, 2022 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Moronic slapstick buddy comedy. Rated: C Jun 4, 2016 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (204) audience reviews
Tanya B Seen this movie so many times. It makes me laugh out loud all the time. Martin Short's humor is the best! Good comedy duo. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Hilarious and heartwarming story that pays homage to the stumbling, bumbling accident prone segment of the population. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/12/23 Full Review Audience Member A harmless and charming comedy. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/25/23 Full Review Steve D Not even a chuckle to be had. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review beth a Love this movie! Martin Short is GOLD, as always. He and Danny Glover together is perfection. They don't make em like this anymore. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member One of Becca's favorite movies, Pure Luck has Martin Short in the traditional role you know and enjoy him for, as a bad luck office worker who can't help but be overly sure of hismelf despite destroying everything in his path.  Directed by Nadia Tass and written by Francis Veber (it's based on his French movie La chèvre and it's not the only movie he made that got remade by Hollywood; there's also Le Grand Blond Avec une Chaussure Noire (The Man with One Red Shoe), L'emmerdeur (Buddy Buddy), La Cage aux Folles (The Birdcage), Le Jouet (The Toy), Les Comperes (Fathers' Day), Le Diner de Cons (Dinner for Schmucks) and Les Fugitifs ( Three Fugitives)), Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris. Short's Eugene Proctor is just as clumsy as his boss' missing daughter Valerie (Sheila Kelley), so a psychologist named Monosoff (Harry Shearer) decides that he'd be the perfect person to find her. To ensure that he doesn't screw up, he's assigned Raymond Campanella (Danny Glover) to the rescue trip to Puerto Vallarta. In an interview, Tass said, "It was successful in a financial sense but not in a satisfying sense. It was congenial doing a Martin Short comedy, but American comedy is different from Australian comedy. It is broader. American audiences enjoyed Pure Luck, but audiences in other countries did not enjoy it so much with the exception of the Germans. I wanted to do something else with the comedy and so did Danny Glover. I would like to have put a lot more pathos and pain into it. But they wanted a comedy for America."  He still gets residuals from the film, so there's that. It's a silly film that has a stand out scene with Short's face swelling up from a bee sting that never fails to make me laugh. Yeah, it's not much, but if you get one laugh from it, can it be that bad? Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Pure Luck

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Movie Info

Synopsis When Valerie Highsmith (Sheila Kelley) goes missing in Mexico, it isn't too surprising, as she is generally acknowledged as having the worst luck in the world. What is surprising is that veteran investigator Raymond Campanella (Danny Glover) can't find her. Then an executive at Valerie's father's company has the idea to send Proctor (Martin Short) from accounting along with Raymond. Proctor, it turns out, also possesses terrible luck -- and is sure to tumble into the same mess Valerie did.
Director
Nadia Tass
Producer
Lance Hool, Sean Daniel
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Universal Pictures, Sean Daniel Company
Rating
PG
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 9, 1991, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
May 23, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$21.3M
Runtime
1h 36m
Sound Mix
Surround
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