Clean Slate (1994)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Lack of good storyline.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Clean Slate isn't a plot strong movie, and it's too bad because it could have used a stronger involved plot, but it's fairly good for what it is, some wacky character comedy. The writers forgot to involve Maurice's memory loss very well into the story. Clean Slate is very hapless. Outside of the lead by Dana Carvey, it has good acting, Valeria Golino, James Earl Jones, Kevin Pollack, Michael Gambon, Michael Murphy and Olivia D'Abo. As much as I like Carvey and as funny as he is, he's better off being Garth. It doesn't much too matter since Carvey's good for the movie being his bad acting skills don't hurt it too much. Carvey strengthens Clean Slate in many regards. Clean Slate is good for its unfaulty self-important perspective on account of its nonrestrictive memory lost plot line that makes for kindly absorption. Valeria Golino makes this movie all the worth while. In my eyes, she is the most beautiful woman. Golino is. I'm dead serious. She's drop dead gorgeous. She has the most beautiful accent and voice. I could sit and listen endlessly to her speak aimless, nonsensical comedy script and be completely love-drunk from it. I really love it. I love her in Hot Shots. I love her in everything she's in. Rain Man is one of my most favorite movies. Valeria Golino is my most desirable woman, just about. She's so damn beautiful. I ain't kiddin' about Valeria, sweet goodness. Her slight sense of humor makes her very deeply attractive. Clean Slate has a good edit and is kindly amusing, very worth while. Valeria Golino's incredible. Wow.

After an explosion, private detective Maurice Pogue wakes up every morning with amnesia. The night before, he has always made sure to record on tape everything he would need to remember the next day, such as what is wrong with him and why. One very important detail: he must not tell anyone what is wrong with him, because he must testify in the case against Cornell, the bad guy responsible for the explosion, and without his testimony there is no case. Obviously, if he can't remember the explosion, he has no credibility as a witness.Sarah Novak, who was supposedly killed in the explosion, comes to Pogue for help, saying she can't go to the police. She may be in the Witness Protection Program as fashion model Beth Holly. Or perhaps Beth is pretending to be Sarah.Pogue and Sarah/Beth must search for a coin worth millions. One gag involves this coin being put into a parking meter.And Pogue is also the father of a baby. It would be a disaster if a baby was put in the care of someone in his situation.Cornell would like Pogue to conveniently forget what he saw. Of course, he doesn't know that he has gotten his wish.Rosenheim is the prosecutor in Cornell's case, but he is so dense that when given clues the blind street musician could see the significance of, he can't figure out what they mean. Dolby is Rosenheim's wheelchair-bound boss.Speaking of the street musician, he is quite good. He plays the clarinet and people give him money. Next to him is an artist painting new versions of The Mona Lisa on the side of a building. I say "versions" because he is not good at accepting criticism.I liked a lot of the music in this movie. Some of it was traditional jazz, and the movie used various styles of music from old-style detective movies.The concept of a private detective with amnesia was the funniest thing. Pogue had to be a detective every morning just to figure out who he was. "Groundhog Day" in reverse.Dana Carvey was okay as Pogue. He had several standout moments, such as the time Cornell came to his door just after Pogue reminded himself the landlord was demanding the rent or else! And there was the scene where, while watching an old detective movie (Bogart may have been in it, but I'm not entirely sure), Pogue figured out how to solve his problem. And of course Dolby's birthday party at the movie's start.I thought Michael Gambon gave the best performance as the evil gangster Cornell. Not completely evil, but balanced and convincing.Pogue's dog Baby (played by Barkley) added a lot, because he kept bumping into things because of his lack of depth perception. And of course the name means Pogue keeps searching for clues related to a baby.It isn't great, but it is entertaining.

This movie is one of my favorite comedies. I saw it before I knew that Dana Carvey was Garth from Wayne's World (this was before my great interest in Cinema and now know everything about films in the '90s and '00s). I found it to be very entertaining and have seen it many times since. I love it when an ex-SNL actor is able to star in a movie that is not based on a Character they did on SNL (Mike Myers in So I Married and Axe Murderer, Adam Sandler in Billy Madison, and Chris Farley, David Spade in Tommy Boy). Carvey has this charm about him as seeming like a regular guy. He does not seem like the Hollywood type. I think he is highly underrated and I hope he can find his niche again. Clean Slate is the comedy version of Memento, or Memento is the serious version of Clean Slate. I heard that Adam Sandler was producing a script Dan Carvey wrote, so I hope something comes of that.

This movie is definitely an above-average comedy. The premise is not very funny, but the situations that the main character are put into are hysterical. Whatever it was, it was certainly original, and certainly funny. The slide presentation is one of my favorite parts from any movie I've seen.