Down And Out in Beverly Hills

Directed by Paul Mazursky, Down And Out in Beverly Hills follows Nick Nolte’s homeless figure as he worms his way into the life of a wealthy businessman (Richard Dreyfuss’ Dave Whiteman) and his family (including Bette Midler’s Barbara and Evan Richards’ Max). It’s an almost inherently appealing premise that’s employed to mostly engaging and often hilarious effect by Mazursky, as the filmmaker, armed with a script written with Leon Capetanos, delivers a briskly-paced comedy that benefits substantially from the completely compelling efforts of its various performers – with, especially, Dreyfuss’ loose, entertaining work here elevating the proceedings on a regular basis and smoothing over the narrative’s infrequent lulls. There’s little doubt, as well, that Down And Out in Beverly Hills receives plenty of mileage out of the fairly irresistible chemistry between Dreyfuss and Nolte’s respective characters, while the appealingly frenetic third act ensures that the whole thing concludes on as agreeable and memorable a note as one might’ve hoped – with the final result an above-average endeavor that’s generally much smarter than its similarly-themed brethren.

*** out of ****