He had the gall to play parts in remakes made memorable by genuinely funny chaps like Peter Sellers and Phil Silver and they truly stank and tanked. He must have been funny once to be trusted with such legacies but I find him tedious.

19 comments

  1. Trains, Planes and Automobiles was good though arguably John Candy makes it from an OK film into a great one.

  4. Your choice obviously but Steve Martin was brilliant, his old stand up routines, Planes, Trains and Autombiles, Roxanne, The Man with Two Brains…all excellent

  5. I assume he probably was, since he is considered a legend by so many younger comedians. I sometimes think there’s a thing with American comedians where the stuff they do when up and coming that forms their reputation never really makes it over here. We see them when they’re mega stars making quite middle of the road popular stuff, so it becomes quite hard for us to grasp they were originally genuinely original or ground breaking. Eddie Murphy, for example.

  7. “He had the gall” You mean someone hired him to do a job, and he was confident enough in his own ability to give it a go?

    <clutches pearls> the horror. Oh, the gall of the man!!

  8. I do agree that Sgt. Bilko and Pink Panther were severe missteps (Though no worse than Tom Arnold in McHale’s Navy), but *¡Three Amigos!*, *Dirty Rotten Scoundrels* and, more recently, *Only Murders in the Building* are all really funny, and Steve Martin is a big part of that.

    He’s a bit much when he’s being expected to comedically carry a whole movie, but can be brilliant as part of a small ensemble.

  10. As mentioned here, he was very funny in some major 80’s comedies, although he started doing some stuff in the 90’s, such as Parenthood, Father of the Bride and LA Story, in which I didn’t find him funny at all, as his goofiness seemed to have been replaced with a down-trodden weariness, and he seemed to take himself too seriously from that point.

  11. I always loved the Three Amigos and Father of the Bride. Not all of his films are great but he’s done a few decent ones in his time.

  13. The Man with Two Brains, and, Dead Men Wear Plaid, were funny, but like you I think he is over-rated.

  14. His early stuff was amazing. Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, The Man With Two Brains, The Jerk are all brilliant.

  17. The Jerk was great and so funny.

    Also enjoyed LA Story and could watch it again.

    The rest? Meh.

  18. >Peter Sellers

    I didn’t think Pink Panther was the height of comedy personally.

    >Phil Silver

    Who?

    Steve Martin is funny in many things, not all but can’t please everyone. I really enjoy Only Murders in the Building at the moment.

  19. He was very funny once upon a time but ended up doing too many shite family “comedies”
    Dennis Pennis took him down by asking why aren’t you funny anymore

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