Moving - 1988 ****

I think Richard Pryor deserves more credit for being a comedian than he gets. He's extremely funny, and remarkably versatile when it comes to different characters.
The job of a lifetime comes up for Arlo Pear with a big pay rise, more responsibility, and generally everything he could wish for. The only problem with this is that it means moving his family from their comfy home in New Jersey, to the outskirts of Idaho. Not only does he have to deal with his stubborn teenage daughter, who would rather marry a pimp than up sticks with him,, but he also has to coordinate the psychotic neighbour next door who keeps setting his remote controlled plane on him, as well as a group of thuggish furniture movers who break all his possessions and then demand payment for doing so.
I found this a really funny film, and I hadn't heard of it before doing some research on Richard, so it's a bit of a lost gem as well.

Critical Condition - 1987 ***

Richard Pryor movies are always over the top and very silly. Especially the ones where he's paired up with Gene Wilder. He may be 'acting solo' here, but he's still pretty funny. Here he plays Kevin, a con man who is threatened with jail after being caught smuggling jewellery. Desperate to avoid a prison sentence, he pretends that he is insane (the courtroom scene in which he does this is totally improvised, and hilarious) and as a result is carted off to a mental hospital. When he arrives at the hospital a power surge renders the whole place in darkness and without medical equipment and he has to pose as a qualified doctor in order to escape. Escaping isn't so easy however when patients begin to need urgent treatment and he has to jump in and help them, despite not having a clue what he is doing. It's almost slapstick in some ways, but definitely has Pryor's manic, psychotic slant on it.
Funny.