Enid Is Sleeping (1990)

Undescribable Perfection

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This is one of my All Time Favorites! Elizabeth Perkins is at top of her comedic game and Rita Perlman was great fit on dispatcher. The older sister completed the circle of laughter and is always guaranteed to make one laugh out loud!! Anyone rating this flick less than a 7-10 may reflect stress (excessive) and distraction in your life?! By all means, one would need to relax & watch after exercising, running, or of course, a glass of wine or your favorite relaxation aid and enjoy the film ... for the first time (again!)!! Judge Reinhold is hilarious as his character comes to life without having to (or appearing to; smile) act out the character. Reinhold's over-zealous action seeking sidekick and partner on the force, is non other than the principal from Ferris Beulers Day Off fame. I've bought the DVD & also have it on the Laser Disc. It's a movie worth watching (& re-rating) as if the first attempt didn't yield a 7+ rating the 2nd time will! The comic genius of the characters, background music and perfect type-cast of Perkins and Reinhold makes this film, well, a Comedic Gem in which the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly accidents in life ...and the decisions to fix or clean them up don't always go according to plan!

Dark comedy with a too-familiar premise: woman catches her husband in bed with her sister and, after a scuffle, thinks she's killed her. She and her cheating husband attempt to dispose the body but come up against many screwball obstacles. Despite good leads Elizabeth Perkins and Judge Reinhold, the picture falls flat. It tries hard, but flails about. The script had possibilities, despite the overall feel of been-here-done-this, and the director can't work up much originality with such a slim budget. Disappointing and lackluster unreleased theatrical film was mentioned in the trades for a few years (always with a different title) and finally made it to video in 1990. *1/2 from ****

Apparently, it is impossible to buy a copy of this superb dark comedy, which is available for rent from some video stores under the title "Over Her Dead Body." This is a shame, because I am a devotee of dark comedies, and this is my all-time favorite, bar none. The hi-jinks mix with pathos in a most rib-tickling way in this film. Truly, if you don't laugh at loud at least a few times during this movie, you'd better check to see whether you, yourself, may be saddled with a dead body (your own)!

This is sort of a distaff "Weekend at Bernie's", only it's set in small-town New Mexico and there are cops instead of crooks. It ends up being darker and drier. "Bernie's" may be wackier, but this film is funnier in the long run, I think.Elizabeth Perkins is a platinum blonde this time out, and looks even cuter than she usually does. She's a winning comedienne and is well teamed with Judge Reinhold and Jeffrey Jones. They could have been Lamour, Hope and Crosby starring in "The Road to Roswell" but thankfully that's a bit of New Mexico we don't get to see for a change.Once upon a time, the inconvenience of a dead body was considered a topic worthy of the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, in one of his rare comedies, "The Trouble With Harry" ("Is He's Dead"), and more recently it has been a lesser plot point for the National Lampoon in the original and still riotous "Vacation".Live comics stiff all the time, but dead ones are always good for a laugh.