Trapped in Paradise (1994)

terrible... so disappointed.

One of my all time favorites.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Bill Firpo (Nicolas Cage) tries to keep honest. However his brothers Dave (Jon Lovitz) and kleptomaniac Alvin (Dana Carvey) get early parole due to overcrowding. Bill is pulled back in as they go to Paradise, Pennsylvania to find Sarah based on another inmate's story. They find the small local bank so lax in security that they have to rob it. They have to get the keys to the vault from bank president Clifford Anderson (Donald Moffat). On the way out, they crash their getaway car. They are rescued and brought to the Andersons and their upstairs renter bank worker Sarah Collins (Mädchen Amick). None of them recognize that the brothers are the robbers. The criminal who had the original idea to rob the bank finds out. The FBI led by agent Shaddus Peyser (Richard Jenkins) are also looking for them. They keep failing to get away while the people in town are all so very nice.Dana Carvey has that annoying voice and face. He is stupid in a hateful way. Jon Lovitz is slightly better by comparison. Nicolas Cage is angry and with good reasons. The three brother are so annoying that there are unlikeable. They are unfunny. And the jokes fall flat. The big chase isn't anything fun. It is generally boring and most of the blame has to be laid at writer/director George Gallo's feet.

I think many would like this movie for at least three reasons.1. It's HILARIOUS! With Cage, Lovitz and Carvey - how could it not be?2.It's not just "a movie set at Christmas," it really is a Christmas movie! *3. It evokes another of my favorite films, Groundhog Day, for several reasons... starting with the Pennsylvania small-town setting and the winter shots, up to and including the recurring denouement... see if you don't agree.* My test as to whether it's really "a Christmas movie"": would the story work as well if set at any other time of year? In the case of this movie, the answer is no. For comparison, think about It's a Wonderful Life... in that movie, Clarence the angel could have appeared to George Bailey in middle of a July heat wave... all of the plot events could have been moved into the summer, for that matter... but, had that been done, would it be the same film? I think you'd agree that it wouldn't... and so it is with Trapped in Paradise. The story line needs a Christmas setting, and it is Christmas which, in return, gives this film charm above and beyond its broadly-delivered humor.

When you put people like Saturday Night Live's Dana Carvey and John Lovitz on the screen together, you know there's going to be a few good laughs. Toss Mr. Nicolas Cage in and you've got a trio that is able to bounce anything off the other and make it come out even more hysterical. Cage stars as the oddball while Lovitz and Carvey star as small time crooks. Welcome these three gentlemen to Paradise, Pennslvania. They are new in town looking for someone none of them know, however when they walk into the bank to find this 'Sarah' person, they discover that it's going to be an easy pick, especially on Christmas Eve. They get the money and they're out. The hard part is getting out of town. Mixing slapstick with down to earth friendly community people who are willing to love anybody, humor and extreme difficulty sparks in this Christmas comedy not to be missed.

Al though this movie isn't at the bottom of my list, this is among the worse commercial movies I have seen. I do not understand why Nick Cage took on this movie. There are only two things that rise slightly above category, but these are not enough to change my vote: Dana Carvey and his slick and funny pickpocketing and Florence Stanley is funny — I liked her a lot. She and Dana raise the movie to 1.5, which is still short of 2.The acting sucks and the writing sucks. And the plot sucks big time. The movie is roughly a modern version of slap stick. Classical slap stick is probably better. The finale was worse than the movie itself. Essentially, the finale was predictable.