Lookwell (1991)

I love this movie so much

That was an excellent one.

A Masterpiece!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Plot; The star of a long cancelled detective show uses his ceremonial deputy status to help the police solve crimes.With the passing of Adam West yesterday, I had planned to watch a two-parter of his classic Batman in tribute. But in reading about West I stumbled across an unsold pilot he starred in that was written and produced by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel. Over the years it's gained a cult status and is frequently mentioned as one of the best failed pilots of all-time. The pilot is called Lookwell, and if it's the glove, Adam West is the hand.In the last 24 hours, much has been said about how deft West's portrayal of the Caped Crusader was. With material that plays on several levels, he gives a virtuoso performance that we're only now really beginning to appreciate. That touch is on full display in this consistently amusing and intermittently clever pilot with a premise that seems tailor made for a man of West's talents. Playing the loveably oblivious Ty Lookwell, he gets to don a variety of getups and is clearly enjoying himself.This would've been a tough premise to keep up on a weekly basis, but we were sadly denied the opportunity to see Adam West display his unique talents in this equally unique show.

I located and watched this show because I'm a fan of Adam West's Batman, Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel. Now that I've seen it, I can understand why people tend to either love it or hate it.The premise is great, Adam West is great, and the Lookwell character is hilariously annoying and genuinely noble at the same time.The clash between the luxury show business side of Los Angeles and the regular, scruffy side is great, too.The actors seem to be well cast, but one issue is that, in some cases, they do stage-y, sketch comedy style acting instead of regular TV show acting.I think a bigger problem is that the script isn't structured all that well. There are too many different characters who get about the same amount of screen time, and suspense doesn't build the way it should.It looks as if neither this show nor Andy Barker, PI has a story editor. It seems to me that a good, experienced story editor would have ideas for ways to make shows like these hold together better.

Having just watched this absolute GEM HOW COULD IT NOT BE PICKED UP !!!!!! It is exceptionally rare for me to find a program that is laugh out loud funny - but this is it!!! Adam West was born to play this role The sheer absurdity of the deductive process is fantastic. If only I had the capacity to commission the series myself!!!! This could have been family guy!!! Any chance Conan and friends could be persuaded to try and resurrect this one?Turning up to the audition dressed as the character was inspired. Could have cameo appearances from Burt ward, get teamed up with Leslie Nielsen.Definitely an opportunity missed by the networks here in my opinion

You would not have thought it possible for a comedy to have every joke it makes fall flat on its face. Lookwell is funny in the same way a really drunk guy who can't walk or speak properly but is trying really hard to do both is funny. It is indeed laughable, but only in its complete ineptitude, its remarkable ability to fail so thoroughly and consistently on every level.My only possibly guess as to why so many people say they like this film is that they are the sort who, when seeing a comedian bomb horribly and terribly at a comedy club to the point of being booed off the stage, find this incredibly amusing. Or perhaps imagine this: imagine a comedian so unfunny that people cannot grasp the depths of his unfunny, and therefore convince themselves that he is must be intentionally trying to lampoon the whole concept of humor, although this is not the case.Here's food for thought: Now everyone I know who has seen this video has a new word--Lookwell, v. To lookwell is to try really hard to be funny and to fail.