Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels harks back to the era of suave 1950s and '60s caper films -- specifically, the 1963 David Niven/Marlon Brando vehicle Bedtime Story, on which Scoundrels's script is based. Michael Caine plays the slicker member of the anti-hero duo with perfect English ease, and Steve Martin is inspired as his gauche American counterpart. Scoundrels features an involved and complicated plot, with as many twists and turns as a decent mystery; the film unfolds like a broad, comic version of the The Sting. Director Frank Oz's only previous adult-oriented film was 1986's Little Shop of Horrors, and with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels he firmly established the fine comic form that he would perfect with In & Out (1997) and Bowfinger (1999). The lush French Riviera environs are adroitly shot by Michael Ballhaus. ~ Matthew Doberman, All Movie Guide