MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Cheap Shots’: Two Guys, Videotape and Big Trouble

Louis Zorich, who plays the corrupt mayor in “City of Hope,” has long been an esteemed character actor, but “Cheap Shots” (at the AMC Century 14) marks his first starring film role. Would that it were a happier occasion: featuring debuting directors-producers-co-writers Jeff Ureles and Jerry Stoeffhaas have come up with a couple of amusing ideas, but they’re not enough to sustain an entire film.

Underdeveloped and slight in the extreme, this 1988 production might be a passable time-waster on the tube but is not worth going to a theater to see.

Zorich is well-cast as the burly Greek immigrant proprietor of Constantine’s Kozy Kabins, an ancient, derelict auto court in the beautiful mountains of Upstate New York. Louie Constantine daydreams of a brighter future but mainly he’s resigned to a sour middle age, giving into sloth and beset by bills, a nagging wife (Mary Louise Wilson) and an obtuse, tight-wad Yankee father-in-law (Clarke Gordon). He has one friend (David Patrick Kelly), a nerdy young salesman who’s his one permanent tenant.

The two friends are in danger of terminal boredom when in lieu of rent, a biker gives Constantine a portable video camera and recorder. Eventually, Constantine and his pal are using it to spy on the mysterious sexy young couple who’ve been holed up in one of the cabins for weeks. Inadvertently, our voyeurs record much more than the couple making love.

The filmmakers have yet to learn how to build any momentum whatsoever and merely proceed from one overly leisurely scene to the next. It scarcely matters that they take forever to get Constantine into big trouble, because they’re unable to generate much in the way of excitement and action even when his life could be in danger. They have a wry, bemused sensibility that’s appealing yet let their people, especially the wife and the father-in-law, lapse into caricature. Too often they try to pass off cuteness and the mildest of whimsy for humor.

Zorich and Kelly are such experienced pros that they can make their roles come alive, but it’s asking too much of them to bring “Cheap Shots” (rated PG-13 for some sex, language) to life more than intermittently.

‘Cheap Shots’

Louis Zorich: Louie Constantine

David Patrick Kelly: Arnold

Mary Louise Wilson: Dotty

Michael Twaine: Jack

A Hemdale Films of a Twin Swans Film Associates production. Writers-directors Jeff Ureles & Jerry Stoeffhaas. Producers William Coppard, Ureles, Stoeffhaas. Executive producer Coppard. Cinematographer Thom Marini. Editor Ken McElwaine. Costumes Lana Momano. Music Jeff Beal. Production design Carl Zollo. Art director Anne La Lopa. Sound Dirk Large. Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes.

MPAA-rated PG-13 (for some sex, language).