Well, there is actually more available from that 1929 film, so this film's lot is worse. Only made in the 1990s, 25 years later it is an essentially "lost" film.
It is about a house painter who falls in love with the boss' wife (Bebe Neuwirth) - she plays a sexy though somewhat dim creature here. She is very ambivalent about what to do with her feelings. Meanwhile the painter is following his boss all over town at weird out of the way spots, and stumbles across something nefarious. Did I mention that the house painter lives in an underground bomb shelter in the boss' front yard? The thing is just so quirky. Many compare it to Blue Velvet, but it is much more blue collar than that, and made seven years after Blue Velvet it is too much of a late comer to be a rip off of that film.
The scene I remember - and even that is a little hazy - is that the house painter calls up some nighttime talk radio jock for advice. He starts talking about "problems with his neighbor" and gets accused of not liking immigrants and little kids from other countries! Confused by the retort, the painter hangs up on the shock jock. It was kind of a prescient peek into the army of shock jocks we have today.
If you ever come across this one give it a look. I think it was very original. Plus you get to see Bebe Neuwirth miles from her better known stiff and stern Lilith character on Cheers. There are only old used VHS copies of the film available. It is not available on demand, it was never on DVD, nor is there even a Wikipedia article about it! And there are Wikipedia articles about everything! Since it has probably never been digitized it will not turn up on cable. Here is one worthy of a Criterion release, just for the weirdness of it all.
It is about a house painter who falls in love with the boss' wife (Bebe Neuwirth) - she plays a sexy though somewhat dim creature here. She is very ambivalent about what to do with her feelings. Meanwhile the painter is following his boss all over town at weird out of the way spots, and stumbles across something nefarious. Did I mention that the house painter lives in an underground bomb shelter in the boss' front yard? The thing is just so quirky. Many compare it to Blue Velvet, but it is much more blue collar than that, and made seven years after Blue Velvet it is too much of a late comer to be a rip off of that film.
The scene I remember - and even that is a little hazy - is that the house painter calls up some nighttime talk radio jock for advice. He starts talking about "problems with his neighbor" and gets accused of not liking immigrants and little kids from other countries! Confused by the retort, the painter hangs up on the shock jock. It was kind of a prescient peek into the army of shock jocks we have today.
If you ever come across this one give it a look. I think it was very original. Plus you get to see Bebe Neuwirth miles from her better known stiff and stern Lilith character on Cheers. There are only old used VHS copies of the film available. It is not available on demand, it was never on DVD, nor is there even a Wikipedia article about it! And there are Wikipedia articles about everything! Since it has probably never been digitized it will not turn up on cable. Here is one worthy of a Criterion release, just for the weirdness of it all.