The Passionate Plumber

Directed by Edward Sedgwick, The Passionate Plumber follows Buster Keaton’s Elmer E. Tuttle as he bumbles his way into a phony relationship with a socialite (Irene Purcell’s Patricia). It’s larger-than-life subject matter that would seem to lend itself perfectly to a broad, laugh-out-loud slapstick comedy, and yet filmmaker Sedgwick, working from a script by Laurence E. Johnson and Ralph Spence, delivers an often astonishingly sluggish endeavor that contains virtually nothing in the way of compelling characters or scenarios – with the episodic structure paving the way for an interminable midsection rife with misguided, deeply unfunny set-pieces. (There is, for example, a duel sequence that just seems to go on forever.) There’s little doubt, as well, that Keaton’s bizarrely muted performance only adds to the completely underwhelming atmosphere, and it’s clear, ultimately, that The Passionate Plumber, even at a brief running time of 73 minutes, comes off as nothing less than a total disaster devoid of positive attributes.

1/2* out of ****