Neon Dreams: SKIN DEEP (1989)

 

 

Ritter stars as Zach Hutton, an L.A.-based writer with a weakness for women and alcohol, stumbling from one pratfall to the next as his life and career crumble around him. Blending slapstick comedy with deadly serious elements of self-loathing and depression, Skin Deep miraculously makes it all work thanks to expert direction and a performance by Ritter that is handled with pitch-perfect comic timing. As Roger Ebert put it, Edwards “is like a magician who distracts you with his rapid-fire patter and his sexy assistant, while he’s switching the rabbits behind his back”, while “Ritter’s performance has more depth here, more dimension, than he’s shown before… There’s wit, rudeness, satire, lust and pathos, all effortlessly rolled up together”.

 

 

Skin Deep is pure laugh-a-minute late-80s bliss, backed by a charming supporting cast, a delightful Henry Mancini score, a banging title track by Ivan Neville, and (for those questioning what makes this a Neon Dreams title) an eye-popping SFX sequence by Industrial Light And Magic that we will NOT be spoiling. Come help us reclaim this one from the DVD bargain bin and bask in the glorious glow of a true blue “they sure don’t make ’em like they used to” comedy.