4/10
desperate for a repeat
31 January 2016
It's one year later and Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) is approaching his 40th birthday. He is content as the manager of the NYC radio station and happy living in the country with his family. His friend Phil Berquist (Daniel Stern) working under him is so depressed that he's considering a return to Arlene. His irresponsible brother Glen (Jon Lovitz) has come to town. While with his wife Barbara (Patricia Wettig), he discovers a treasure map in Curly's hat. He finds a story of a train robbery with missing gold worth about a million dollars. The three men go to Vegas and set off for a few days on their treasure hunt. Mitch has been haunted by Curly's presence which turns out to be Curly's twin Duke Washburn (Jack Palance).

This is so desperate to repeat the original that Palance returns as his own twin. I don't blame the movie for Bruno Kirby going missing. Who knows what the dispute was. Replacing him with Jon Lovitz feels forced which only adds to the manufactured nature of the story. I don't know if there was a time constraint but it seems to be a great opportunity for Mitch to take his wife on the journey together. If City Slicker is about a mid-life crisis, City Slicker 2 could be about some sort of family crisis. At least, that would have been moving the franchise forward. This movie has lost the chemistry and therefore lost the comedy.
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