Don't be fooled by the B-movie production value of this film. This is one of the funnier movies I have seen in a long time. Dave Foley plays his dorky persona to a tee, while Jennifer Tilly is sweet and sexy as his love interest. I couldn't believe I was laughing so hard but this plot had so much to offer with its ridiculous main character under the misconception that he is the subject of a nationwide manhunt. A worthy rental.
Add a Review
-
sittler23 August 2002
-
nickmarino72@mail.com19 December 2004wow. who even knew this movie existed? well i was in virgin records and saw it on the shelf. suffice to say i rented it, and i LOVED it. i plan on buying it most likely. the beginning is a little slow but it's one of those comedies where you find yourself in tears by the middle. just terrific acting, especially by the investigator who loves to spend the gov't money on restaurants and theater - he really steals the show. seriously tho, if you enjoy great comedies with a silly edge - ex. The Naked Gun & Saving Silverman - you will enjoy this.
by the way - the movie was fairly kid appropriate. i think ages 10+ should have no problems watching this. -
BlackSox191913 July 2003If you like Kids in the Hall, and are a fan of their wonderful comedy "Brain Candy," then you will love this movie. Starring Dave Foley, with a cameo from Kevin McDonald and sly references to "Brain Candy" (at one point, paging "Dr. Chris Cooper"), it continues KITH-quality humor.
If you've never heard of KITH, and have no idea what I was talking about in that last paragraph, you'll still enjoy this movie. A wry turn on the "Fugitive"-style drama, a wrongly accused man on the run always looking over his shoulder to find...no one is chasing him. Tightly scripted, well acted, and just plain funny. -
claudio_carvalho15 April 2008In Cleveland, the histrionic and clumsy executive Nelson Hibbert (Dave Foley) expects to be promoted to president of the Nigel Industries since he is engaged of the owner's daughter. However, his future father-in-law Mr. Nagel (Kenneth Welsh) chooses the executive Ken Daly (Dan Redican) for the position, and Nelson threatens him in front of the board of directors. Later he decides to pay a visit to Mr. Nagel but finds him dead with a knife in his neck. Nelson removes the knife and is covered of blood, becoming hysterical and leaving the office assuming that he is the prime suspect. However, the surveillance cameras disclose the identity of the killer (Colm Feore), and while Nelson escapes to Metcaf believing that he is chased by the police, the killer is pursued by the police and tries to eliminate Nelson believing that he is a "super-cop" on his trail.
"The Wrong Guy" is an extremely hilarious movie. I have just seen this film with my daughter and we are still laughing of the dumb but funny story. The lead character is a sort of Canadian version of Mr. Bean and is so imbecile that it is impossible to stay serious with his presence in scene. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "O Suspeito Errado" ("The Wrong Suspect") -
rottenaddict19 July 2004Yes this film looks like it will be yet another terrible "dumb and dumber" type film but it really is rather well scripted and ...well down right funny. I am a huge Kids In The Hall fan but we got to see a few episodes of their series over here in the UK and that was it, i bought Brain Candy whilst in New York and and managed to tape a few of the KITH shows when they aired briefly over here in the mid 90's. I have searched for The Wrong Guy but it isn't available over here (like anything KITH related) but the BBC happned to show The Wrong Guy a couple of days ago and i laughed from the start to the end. It is s very simple idea for a film but it is made up of great little comedy moments that keep you laughing, even as a KITH fan i didn't expect it to be as funny as it was. Dave Foley really showed how great he can be as a writer and actor and how a simple idea can turn into something rather special, and that is what this film is SPECIAL. Watch this film if you get the chance and ..... start showing the KITH in the UK again or at least make the series available over here. 7 out of 10 Rotten Addict
-
rhondawest-15 October 2003For the first couple of minutes of this movie I thought it was going to be just a little too silly. Actually, it's just silly enough. Dave Foley is hysterical! His character, Nelson Hibbert, is a lot like Mr. Bean--not very bright, and not very nice, but charming in his own way. It's really a lot like a cartoon--situations and character traits are absurdly exaggerated. Great cameos by the Barenaked Ladies as a group of do-wop singing cops and Enrico Colantoni as a paranoid, conspiracy freak ("I could kill you right now with two teabags and a piece of waxed paper!"). A really fun film for anyone with a warped sense of humour!
-
jagaleigh23 May 2003I have no idea how I made it so long without seeing this movie. I passed it on the video store shelf for years. WHAT A MISTAKE! This movie is so funny it hurts. I actually cried through some of the scenes, it was so hilarious. I found myself rewinding parts and having to stop the movie so I could get control of myself. If you are in the mood for belly laughter and watching a silly/corny/crazy/wonderful comedy, then The Wrong Guy is perfect!
-
vampyrecowboy13 December 2009OK...I've worked with Dave Foley and in person, he is just hilarious.
For the most part, this movie just drags barely along...but there is something truly fantastic about this film...and I can't put the exact fact of what reason that is.
It's not the ending...it's not the beginning and it's not the middle...so where does it lay? Well it's gingerly sprinkled throughout the movie - between the silly cop antics, the narcoleptic farm girl. It's the little pieces that make this movie funny...not the overall story - because it just doesn't have the glue for it.
However this is far better than any Tom Hanks - Meg Ryan romantic comedy ever was or will be. This has heart...
Of course it could have been written a bit better. The ending could have been more tight and some of the dialogue could have been more tight. There could have been more action and some really awesome stunts...but even without all that needed input, this film still manages to entertain. -
Slamca21 May 2005I have no idea why this film is so unknown. I love it and it's so funny, of course, if you like dumb humor.
The main character Nelson doesn't get a promotion at his job, so he goes crazy in front of all his co-workers. He later finds out his dead boss and convinced that police will be looking for him, escapes (fugitive style). The thing is, the police knows Nelson didn't kill his boss, because there was a camera at boss' office.
Nelson however, tries to escape from the police, being careful of every step, while the real killer is convinced Nelson is after him (because certain coincidences occur).
The movie is great, Foley's acting is great and the whole movie has this positive feel to it. Some jokes are so... dumb and funny, you laugh just because of the dumbness of them.
All in all, I own the original DVD, and people should see this movie, because it really is great! -
alansabljakovic-390442 March 2020It is so ridicilous but also hilarious at the same time. The villain is cartoonish and the plots wears out after first 40 minutes but a lot of comedic parts made me giggle. I'm glad I watched it for film club because I wouldn't even hear about this movie otherwise.
-
lumpynose9 June 2003If you love to watch tv and think that there's a lot of great stuff on tv you may well like this.
The script is really awful. The kind of dreck that tv really excels at.
At first I thought, "Ok, maybe it'll get better." But it never did. It's the kind of humor that's designed for morons who need lots of help identifying what's supposed to be funny. The only thing it was missing was an audience laugh track.
Avoid at all costs unless you're a halfwit. -
InzyWimzy23 August 2002Funny. What else would you expect from a movie starring Dave Foley?
"Today is the big day!" Dave had me cracking up right from the beginning. Already, you see that Nelson Hibbert can really be so WRONG!! The series of events implicating him are dark, but effectively funny. I guess his character is so clueless that it already adds the comedy ingredient throughout the film. Watch for Jennifer Tilly: her scenes with Foley are fun to watch. Good chemistry!
Some more standouts include the detective whose laidback, logic flawed, corrupt methods are surprisingly quite effective and humorous. The crazy driver guy has got to be the nut of the film...what a kook!! Oh, I must mention that the scene between Foley and Kevin McDonald is hilarious. Their timing is awesome and they feed off each other so well.
Overall, a dark comedy with a moral as well! Funny stuff. -
youngcollind10 November 2021It almost feels like it's of a bygone era, before comedy felt the need to be ironic or cringe to be cool. This film is jam packed with obvious gags and punchlines, be it age old bits or full blown slapstick, it wants to make you laugh and refuses to beat around the bush. And it'll get you there, eliciting some genuine chuckles, even when you can admit that what you're laughing at is dumb as all hell. Dave Foley is comedy royalty, and it's a shame his feature film debut flew so far under the radar.
It's an obvious homage to The Fugitive, and it managed to beat the Leslie Nielsen parody to the box office by a whole year, but as silly as The Wrong Guy is, I'm sure it doesn't hold a candle to Wrongfully Accused. -
The Wrong Guy is a lot like a broken clock. Just as a busted timepiece is still right twice a day, there are enough honest-to-goodness funny people involved in this movie that it can't help but occasionally veer into comedic territory. And just as you can't rely on a stopped watch to tell you what time it is, you'll be sorely disappointed if you expect this film to consistently keep you laughing.
Nelson Hibbert (Dave Foley) is a soulless young man working his way up the corporate ladder by marrying his boss' daughter. When even that isn't enough to get himself named the next president of the company, Nelson explodes in impotent rage and babbles about his boss being dead to him. Someone else actually does kill his boss and Nelson, in a mostly unfunny way, winds up with blood all over him and the murder weapon in his hand. Thinking he must be the prime suspect, Nelson goes on the lam. He's the only one who thinks the cops are after him, though, because the police actually have video tape of the real killer.
A mistaken fugitive, Nelson incompetently flees for Mexico only to constantly run into the real murderer (Colm Feore) while the apathetic and opportunistic Detective Arlen (David Anthony Higgins) leads an investigation that makes the Keystone Cops look like the folks from CSI (pick any one). Nelson eventually winds up in a small town, falling in love with a beautiful woman (Jennifer Tilly) and doing some remarkably unfunny scenes with SCTV's Joe Flaherty as her father. The killer catches up with Nelson, the police catch up with them both and blah, blah, blah.
I honestly laughed out loud at a few moments of The Wrong Guy, was mildly amused by a few others and liked the premise of handful more. For the most part, though, this mix of thriller parody and sketch comedy absurdity is lazy, self indulgent and has all the comedic timing of a sumo wrestler in a vat of molasses. Given some of the creative people involved in this production, it's remarkable how often this movie reaches for humor and falls pathetically short. If The Wrong Guy was a baseball player, he'd have a sub .200 batting average. What's especially aggravating, though, is that when this film does make contact, it hits the ball a long way. A gag involving a picket fence and how Nelson tries to return the murder weapon after picking it up are hilarious and some shtick involving the killer's overly complicated getaway plan and a ruthless farmer threatening to foreclose on his banker are really clever. Those brief flashes of fun are simply buried under an avalanche of jokes that either start nowhere, go nowhere or end up nowhere.
I called this movie lazy and let me give you an example of how creative sloth really characterizes this whole thing. At the start of the story, Nelson erupts furiously when he finds out he's not going to be the next company president. He's completely confident of that because his boss/future father-in-law TOLD him he was going to be the next president. What does his boss/future father-in-law say to Nelson when he give the job to someone else? "I lied." That's it. That's all. Why would he lie? Why would he have to lie or even want to lie to Nelson? There's no reason or explanation because these filmmakers don't care or think it's important to build their humor on anything real. You can get away with that attitude toward storytelling if you really bring the funny, but The Wrong Guy left the funny in his other pants.
If you've got a high tolerance for lame attempts at humor, you might enjoy the momentary sparks in this otherwise wet pile of kindling. For most people, watching The Wrong Guy would be the wrong choice. -
imdb-237826 July 2004I didn't know what to expect, but from near the beginning this film is comedy genius.
The name scene in the hospital ranks with some of my favourites ever. The humour is in the detailing in much of the film, with good contribution from the lazy detective. I have to write some more, as it wont let me submit unless there's 10 lines, luckily I'm happy to rant a bit about Dave Foley's performance. Never seen him before, but will look out for him in future. He makes this film rather special.
What was really excellent about this film (and essential to the humour in the plot) was the early twist revealing that this wasn't going to be another predictable wrong guy film. I wont reveal it as don't want to spoil it, but its very cleverly done.
All in all, highly recommended. -
ackstasis24 January 2011One of the most darkly-humorous scenes in Hitchcock's oeuvre is the moment in 'North by Northwest (1959)' when Cary Grant witnesses a murder in the United Nations building, and, before hundreds of witnesses, suddenly finds himself with his hands on the murder weapon. The makers of 'The Wrong Guy (1997)' had evidently been watching their Hitchcock. In one hysterical scene, protagonist Nelson Hibbert (played by Dave Foley) inadvertently does everything in his power to give the impression that he murdered his boss. He didn't, of course, and the police have already disregarded him as a suspect, but Nelson nevertheless strikes out for the Mexican border with the belief that he is the most wanted man in America.
'The Wrong Guy' has a style of humour very much in the vein of "The Kids in the Hall," the oddball Canadian comedy troupe of which Foley was a member (he was also the voice of Flik in 'A Bug's Life (1998)'). The screenplay, co-written by Foley, also has a reference to the classic "Citizen Kane" sketch from the TV series. However, despite an extremely funny first half, in which our hero manages to dig himself into a deeper and deeper rut, the film loses some steam in its final act, when Nelson winds up in a stereotypical American town and falls for a small-town girl suffering from unexpected bouts of narcolepsy. Well worth a look, but not the classic it could have been. -
Morgan-103 April 2000I enjoyed this movie because it had some really funny scenes and I love Kids in the Hall. Unfortunately the sum of the parts is better than the whole. I find myself thinking about certain parts and laughing out loud but put all together and they were missing a little something. The plotline is hilarious at first but it gets a bit tired and the movie could have been about 1 hour long but Foley and Tilly are both funny and I did enjoy.
-
TimeForChillie11 December 2002I had never heard of this movie when I went to the video store, the only reason I rented it was because Dave Foley was in it and I loved Kids in the Hall, and NewsRadio. Well I rented it, and it is the quite possibally the funniest movie I've ever seen. There were several times that I literally could not stop laughing no matter how hard I tried. I want to go buy this movie now. And if I can't find it I will go rent it, tell them I lost it, and pay whatever rediculous fine they give me. Please do me a personal favor, and go watch this movie.
-
wall1730 December 2006It should probably be said that if you don't "get" the Kids in the Hall's brand of comedy, you'll snooze at 'The Wrong Guy'. However, if you like the KITH this will delight you. It plays like a 90-minute sketch, and I mean it in a good way. The main character conflates Dave's utilitarian and classic dumb guy character, Bruno Puntz-Jones, bad doctor, and moshed up in a sort of AT&Love setting with a little bit of the door to door axe murderer. Throw in Jennifer Tilly in a see-through nightie and you've got some good fun. For a low budget film, they did a really good job of continuity and keeping the pacing brisk.
For a good inside joke, note the brand name of the tainted ham. -
Westcoastal28 November 2002When I saw this movie I laughed so hard I actually had to pause it at times so I wouldn't miss anything. I thought perhaps it was "just me", and that most people might not find it all that funny (it has STUPID humour) but I have very rarely heard of anyone who has not found it equally hilarious.
WATCH IT!!! you won't regret it. The train sequence alone makes it worth seeing. I can't count how many times I've recalled a scene or a line from this movie and laughed out loud, even in public, which has given me plenty of opportunities to spread the word about this hilarious movie.
Dave Foley is brilliant! It's a shame that this movie never really saw the light of day, but I truly believe it's time will come. If you enjoy comedy, don't miss out on this film. -
penniah21 May 2002I don't usually go for stupid comedy - for example I avoid Jim Carrey like the plague. This movie came on late night TV and I was too lazy to change the channel. The scene were Nelson finds his boss dead was priceless, though, as well as many other stupid moments. So it's not Gone with the Wind. But it was a great time waster - and I stayed up to watch the end, which is something.
-
Freak-1011 November 1999Got to see this movie at the Hawaii Film Festival where we were lucky enough to have Dave himself in attendance; unfortunately, his pre-show intro and post-show Q&A with the crowd was probably funnier than most of this movie. I loved Brain Candy so maybe my expectations for this flick were a little high, but still, when half the jokes are so obvious you can see them coming, you're not going to be laughing much.
The crowd liked it quite a bit, but I have a growing suspicion that film festival patrons, at least here, have no taste and go to these movies and laugh really loudly just to feel like they have culture.
On the bright side, there were a few moments (3, I think) where I really did laugh pretty hard. Not enough to carry the entire film, however. Thus, fittingly, a 3 out of 10.
Sorry, Dave. I hope your next one is better; I'll still go see it even if I thought this was mostly a dud. -
Herbert-523 October 1998I love The Kids In The Hall, but I truly felt that Brain Candy was a really bad movie, neither funny, or even playful. So when I saw Dave Foley promoting this film on a Canadian TV Talk Show, I thought it sounded funny but remembered how badly I was burned the first time by the former Kid, I was very wary about this one. But I saw the video box in the store and right there I knew I should give it a try. I'm really glad because it turned out to be one of the funniest movies I've ever seen in my entire life. David Foley's hilarious, so is Dave Higgins and Jennifer Tilly, everyone involved did a good job at providing gargantuan laughs. Everyone I recommended it to also enjoyed it heavily, and I'm telling anyone who's reading this right now, check this out, you'll really enjoy it.
-
Hilarious and a complete surprise on this one. Starts off slowly - and Foley is perhaps a bit too OTT in the boardroom - but Foley starts to hit his stride when he goes on the run and there's just one laugh-out-loud scene after another.
Much of the credit has to go to the writing - Foley and Higgins (who almost steals the show as the detective). Great dialogue, a few oddball subplots, and just one funny scene after another.
I saw this along with Elf. It's a great comparison: Elf has almost no funny scenes; Ferrell's humor consists of acting like a retarded child and eating candy; and it's dull almost without relief.
The wrong guy OTOH is everything you want in a comedy. Once again, it's not big Hollywood that makes us think and laugh. -
bubulac29 August 2019When it started I thought "Hmm, this is kind of stupid, but let's watch some more, maybe it gets better". Half an hour later, it didn't get better. Pathetic attempts at being funny, jokes and pranks so simple that even an elementary school kid would find them boring and insipid. One of the worst "comedies" I've ever seen - I was not able to laugh even once, and maybe I smiled once or twice. Had to stop it after half an hour or so and watch something else. Don't waste your time on this piece of junk unless you are brainless.