The Man with One Red Shoe

The Man with One Red Shoe; Comedy, USA, 1985; D: Stan Dragoti, S: Tom Hanks, Lori Singer, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, James Belushi, Carrie Fisher, Tom Noonan

A spy scandal broke out on Moroccan territory that was organized by the government operative Cooper in order to embarrass his colleague and former teacher, the chief of CIA, Ross. The senate warns Ross who, knowing he is wired, decides to fool Cooper by giving him an nonexistent conspiracy against him. Cooper is terrified, while Ross' assistant simply spontaneously picks a random guy from the crowd to divert his attention: the violinist Richard who who wears one red and one black shoe. Cooper immediately starts secretly spying and surveying the oblivious Richard, who is even seduced by the secret agent Maddy. During one evening, Maddy falls in love with Richard and admits him she is a spy. Cooper gets arrested while the young couple leaves a free people.

"The Man with One Red Shoe" is a solid comedy of misunderstanding, made during Tom Hanks' weaker career period in the '80s when he was still filming cheap films. It shows the movie isn't a particularly fresh parody of espionage business and worthy remake of the French original comedy "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe" from '70s where Pierre Richard made a better role, but it has charm and it's nice to see Hanks back in those days when he wasn't afraid to be a comedian. The story is a sly allegory of a man unaware of the events happening around him, but also an amusing take on man's tendency to see something where there is nothing (the evil Cooper who operated the surveillance of the blissful hero never finds something about him, but it always seems he is missing something; thus even imagining Richard's concert as a hidden message), even though those themes were handled in a light way. Among the supporting cast Charles Durning and James Belushi did a very good job. The movie is today forgotten, rightfully so, but it's still rather amusing, correct and sympathetic light comedy.

Grade:+