Barbara (played by Bette Midler), the wife of crooked businessman Sam (Danny DeVito) is kidnapped by a couple he has cheated; they threaten to kill her if he doesn't pay a huge ransom. Sam however is delighted as he'd be overjoyed to have Babrbara permanently out of his life. Meanwhile his mistress and her dimwitted boyfriend decide to blackmail him and send a tape they filmed which they believe is of Sam murdering Barbara to the police - unfortunately they had filmed a prostitute and her client engaging in acts leading to 'la petite mort', and the client was the chief of police who now thinks he is being blackmailed.
After a run of poor films I didn't expect much from this, but was thoroughly entertained by this very funny and nicely silly film.

Very clever film. the entire film's set-up and structure throughout it's course is so well set-up for jokes, it was written extremely well. Very funny too, everyone played their parts perfectly.

Without a doubt the best movie by the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker-trio, with great performances (especially Danny DeVito) and a good script. Even though some elements seem dated now, it is still a very funny and entertaining film.

Exceedingly clever in that through all of the misunderstandings and mishaps, it still walks just on the right side of believable. Where there is potential for the film to slip into blatant implausibility, the cast does a superb job of selling their characters' actions, making the whole thing work like a charm.

Great 80s comedy with Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Bill Pullman and Helen Slater.

Forgot how silly yet incredibly fun this film is.

A fun and entertaining comedy, if a little too light and holds back from having more fun than it should've done really.

Barbara (played by Bette Midler), the wife of crooked businessman Sam (Danny DeVito) is kidnapped by a couple he has cheated; they threaten to kill her if he doesn't pay a huge ransom. Sam however is delighted as he'd be overjoyed to have Babrbara permanently out of his life. Meanwhile his mistress and her dimwitted boyfriend decide to blackmail him and send a tape they filmed which they believe is of Sam murdering Barbara to the police - unfortunately they had filmed a prostitute and her client engaging in acts leading to 'la petite mort', and the client was the chief of police who now thinks he is being blackmailed.
After a run of poor films I didn't expect much from this, but was thoroughly entertained by this very funny and nicely silly film.

Very clever film. the entire film's set-up and structure throughout it's course is so well set-up for jokes, it was written extremely well. Very funny too, everyone played their parts perfectly.

Without a doubt the best movie by the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker-trio, with great performances (especially Danny DeVito) and a good script. Even though some elements seem dated now, it is still a very funny and entertaining film.

It kind of feels like Danny DeVito's entire career as a director was simply a response to this film, which is the lightest (and whitest) comedy that could possibly be made about kidnapping and murder (even Arsenic and Old Lace is edgier than this movie). It's mostly entertaining, though it does drag in parts, and it's almost never laugh-out-loud funny (the exception is the inspired revelation of the police chief's identity). The annoying '80s pop soundtrack and Bette Midler's hammy performance are the most unfortunate distractions, though the entire film is suffused with an '80s kitschy quality that rather belies the dark subject matter. Also, whatever happened to Judge Reinhold? My new theory is that he morphed into a younger body and changed his name to Jason Segel.