RENTED LIPS
US, 1988, 82 minutes, Colour.
Martin Mull, Dick Shawn, Jennifer Tilly, June Lockhart, Shelley Berman, Robert Downey Jr, Kenneth Mars, Edy Williams, Eileen Brennan.
Directed by Robert Downey.
Rented Lips is an extraordinary Hollywood oddity. It was directed by Robert Downey, an iconoclastic underground film-maker of the '60s and '70s with such films as Putney Swope. It is surprising to find him directing this film. Whether it was intended as an underground satire which didn't work out, it is difficult to tell from the finished product.
The film is also the work of actor Martin Mull, who was executive producer, writer and star. Perhaps his broad satire did not mix with the subtleties of Robert Downey. Also of note is the star, Robert Downey Junior, as the actor in the sex movie. (It looks a bit like his being exploited by his father.) There are other Hollywood comic stars in the film including Kenneth Mars as the phoney religious evangelist. June Lockhart appears as Mull's mother. Shelley Berman is producer. And Jennifer Tilley is the heroine.
The movie might have been a satire in the vein of Mel Brooks's The Producers. It even has echoes of the famous play with its song, `Springtime For Hitler' in Germany with the present sex comedy about sexual aberrations in Nazi Germany. No such luck.
The film shows a pornographic movie being made - as it turns out with double-dealings with the studio and double-dealings by a tele-evangelist. When the director dies, there is a plan that a documentary-maker and his assistant (Martin Mull) will finish off the pornography film but at the same time, with the same cast, do his desired documentary about Indians and corn rites.
There is a lot of fast patter, not particularly funny or satiric. There is a prurient delight in the filming of the pornographic film - especially with Robert Downey Junior. There is some very broad, too broad, satire in the filming of the Indian documentary. Ultimately, there is exposure of all the villains, the completion of the documentary as a musical extravaganza - and, unbelievably, the acclaim of the audience at the preview that the documentary musical is a masterpiece. Whether Downey intended this as the ultimate satire is not clear. It comes across as if the producers actually believe that this is the case. A Hollywood oddity.
1. The work of Robert Downey? Underground, satiric? The quality of satire in this film?
2. The sex movie, the sleazy studio, set, action? The stars? The director - his demonstration and his death?
3. The studios, the double-talk, the money deals, the accountants and the business deals? The evangelist, his spies, contact? Investing the money?
4. The director, his assistant, their making of documentaries, the studio screenings? The producers using them for the pornographic film, the promise about the documentary?
5. The making of the pornography film, the specious rationalisations about making it? Pornography and art? The poking fun at Nazi Germany?
6. The documentary about the American Indians, the literally corny documentary? The moving of the cast and crew from one film to the other?
7. The director, his relationship with his mother, her concern about his marrying? The encounter with the young girl, his infatuation, taking her into the film, making her the star, her performance? The relationship? The clash, the return, in love?
8. The exposure of the evangelist, the blackmail, the money? His giving the money for the completion of the documentary?
9. The idea of the musical, the filming of the musical? The premiere and its being a runaway success? How seriously was this ending intended - very or as a spoof?
