James Toback's long-gestating portrait of a one-track mind becomes bogged down in unconvincing plot mechanics.
The Pick-Up Artist (1987)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 20
Fresh: 11
Rotten:9
Average Rating: 5/10
Runtime: 81 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Lady's man Jack Jericho goes through life without a care in the world, seducing one woman after another. Then he meets indifferent museum guide Randy Jensen, who consents to a one-night stand but... Lady's man Jack Jericho goes through life without a care in the world, seducing one woman after another. Then he meets indifferent museum guide Randy Jensen, who consents to a one-night stand but won't give him her phone number. Intrigued, Jack continues to pursue Randy, in the process helping free her alcoholic father from the huge gambling debt he owes the mob. [More]
Starring: Molly Ringwald, Robert Downey, Dennis Hopper, Danny Aiello
Starring: Molly Ringwald, Robert Downey, Dennis Hopper, Danny Aiello, Harvey Keitel, Bob Gunton, Mildred Dunnock, Polly Draper, Robert Towne, Victoria Jackson, Lorraine Bracco, Victor Argo
Director: James Toback
Director: James Toback
Composer: Georges Delerue
Producer: David MacLeod
Screenwriter: James Toback
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Reviews for The Pick-Up Artist
Toback has devised an interesting premise that draws parallels between risking one's heart and one's wallet, but the picture itself risks little.
Features Robert Downey Jr. as a smooth-talking womanizer who meets his match.
The film roams from the Upper West Side to Coney Island to Atlantic City, maintaining a lighthearted style that doesn't quite match the hints of obsessiveness in Mr. Toback's screenplay.
Pickup's 'little more' is in its quirky characters and its intentionally goofy melodrama.
Downey, who worked for one season on Saturday Night Live, has just the right emotional weight for the role of Jack, and the right touch of goofy boyishness to soften his aggressiveness.
This is an appallingly silly movie, from its juvenile comic overture to its dreadfully sincere conclusion.
Latest News for The Pick-Up Artist
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February 24, 2006:
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