C.D. "Charlie" Bales is an engaging small town fire chief who has only one tiny flaw - his astonishingly long nose. Although he considers it no laughing matter, the hilarity never stops as he contends with his bumbling crew of firemen, and his secret love for gorgeous astronomy student Roxanne. Unfortunately, she is attracted to fireman Chris, who's tall on looks and short on conversation. And when C.D. agrees to coach the dumbstruck Chris in his pursuit of the fair maiden, this ticklish triangle dissolves into a hilarious series of rib-tickling romantic misadventures...

Roxanne was written by Steve Martin, who also plays the lead, as an update to Cyrano de Bergerac. There was a time when I thought Martin was funny. Hell, I guess there was a time when the world thought he was funny, but the years have rolled by since then and rewatching the majority of his back catalogue of films makes me realise that he was a product of his time. His particular brand of comedy comes from pretty much the same character which he just rehashes time and time again.

Unlike other comics of the time (Eddie Murphy, John Candy, Richard Pryor and even Tom Hanks in films like Big and Splash) it's hard to warm to Martin's characters and I think this is the main reason his movies don't work too well for a modern audience (The Main with Two Brains, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Parenthood being possible exceptions).

I remember seeing Roxanne on its original release and really enjoying it. Sadly, when you strip it back there's not much meat on the bones. There are very few genuine amusing moments and it's hard for the audience to really get behind Charlie and his longing to win the heart of the girl - Daryl Hannah in the titular role of Roxanne.

It's sad that this movie hasn't aged very well, but the ridiculous visual nose gags don't really help matters.

Extras are a little thin on the ground. All we get is the Original Theatrical Trailer (1 min, 35 sec).

6

Darren Rea