TRENCHCOAT (1983)

This was an odd duck film. What happens when Margo Kidder, still riding the wave from Superman, tries to find another leading role and meets up with Disney trying to get some footing in more adult films? TRENCHCOAT is the result.

The plot had Kidder's character going to Malta in order to write a novel and getting mixed up ina real life mystery. She also collides with Robert Hayes, trying to jump into meatier leading man territory.

We've been there before. Don't kid yourself, there is nothing new here. At the same time what is here is inoffensive and amusing on a slow night.  This was an effort to try and do something along the lines of the Goldie Hawn Chevy Chase films (FOUL PLAY and SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES). There were a bunch of these films that plopped between  FOUL PLAY and when ROMANCING THE STONE upped the ante and made the light comedy need an action adventure edge. Ultimately they were all riffing the classic films going back including CHARADE.

The trouble with this film, as with many of the Disney films from the 1980's, is that Disney didn't know what to do with it. Yes, it came out but they kind of just tossed it out to see if it would stick. It kind of did okay, I guess. I remember the theater being crowded, but at some point the company didn't do anything with it. This was one of the films where Disney floundered with a direction, before they hit with Little Mermaid  and the rebirth of the animated division. (Remember there was a time when there were rumors they might stop making animated features)

While I like the film, the problem for me, beyond it being by rote, is the fact that the casting is off. Kidder needs the right part to shine. She rarely soared in leads because the roles never matched her abilities. She was playing a variation on her Lois Lane here. And as for Robert Hayes... can he be the hero? Yes he can, but he never could get over his being a comedy guy so we never quite buy him as the true romantic lead even in a comedy mystery.

Is the film worth seeing? Yes, but you'll probably forget you saw it soon after.