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T Bone N Weasel

(Lewis Teague, USA, 1992)


 


Lewis Teague has directed some fine genre films (like Cujo, 1983) in his time, but T Bone N Weasel is weak telemovie material that not even he can enliven.

Scripted by Jon Klein from his play, it is a sloppy tale about an ex-con and a scam artist who team up, steal a car and hit the road. Since one of them is cool Gregory Hines and the other wiry Christopher Lloyd, there is much made (in the vein of 48 Hours [1982]) about the difference between black style and white vulgarity.

Since it's also something of a road movie, there's a new backdrop and a new roster of cameo actors (including Rip Torn and Ned Beatty) every ten minutes. And since it's a recession comedy in the manner of The Fisher King (1991), there are plenty of weird jokes about homelessness, poverty, insanity and violence.

I confess that T Bone N Weasel made me violate my professional ethic as a video reviewer; for I was unaccountably compelled to eject the tape half way through, immediately after Hines says of a woman that Lloyd sleeps with: "You servicing her? She could gag a maggot!"

© Adrian Martin November 1993


Film Critic: Adrian Martin
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