Hot To Trot

Hot to Trot (1988)

Runtime: 83 minutes

Directed by: Michael Dinner

Starring: Bobcat Goldthwait, Dabney Coleman, Virginia Madsen, Jim Metzler & the voice of John Candy

From: Warner Bros.

Thursday night I saw this movie; it was something I had seen as a youth, meaning “many years ago”. Maybe it's nostalgia but I'll say this is OK. See why below:

The funniest moment of this movie: seeing that one of the writers of the script was named Stephen Neigher. Yes, NEIGHer; this was really his destiny.

This is another movie I saw in my childhood (more than once, in fact) and the last time I viewed it was many years ago so I figured it was about time I gave it a new viewing and see what my opinion is as an adult. I discovered that this is technically not a good movie, but it's so goofy and dopey, I can't get too mad at it, so I'll say it is average.

After all, it's a talking horse movie where that horse (named Don and voiced by John Candy; I understand it was originally voiced by Elliot Gould but test audiences hated the movie so Candy was brought in, where he ad-libbed all of his lines) helps Bobcat Goldthwait-acting exactly like how you'd expect him to act in an 80's film-with his work at a brokerage firm as he does battle with his stepdad Dabney Coleman (wearing fake buck teeth) and Don is his late mom's horse. There are also plenty of unexpected moments but I've given the basic story.

Like I said this movie is pretty dumb but I can't get too mad at it. I say that and as it was a PG movie in the late 80's and things hadn't changed yet despite PG-13 being around for a few years, there was more cursing than I remembered, several ribald lines and even a comment from Don about a horse with a Hispanic name not having a green card! The 80's were a weird time, man... you even get to see Bobcat act like a yuppie. He doesn't plow through a mountain of drugs like Jordan Belfort and Donnie Azoff did, but I guess it can be presumed... and it would explain the manic personality of his character.

Then again, there were times that I did laugh, there is such wackiness as Burgess Meredith voicing Don's dad, there's a talking horsefly, and if you like horses, of course you'll enjoy seeing all of them and the things that Don does, such as sitting on a couch and drinking a pitcher of Tab... again, the 80's were a weird time. There's also vintage Virginia Madsen, which I know will be appealing to some. Coleman was great at playing scumbag bosses, so no surprise he did fine here, even with the fake teeth. There is also the hilarity of how Bobcat gets his big break at the firm by Don calling him (we don't see him dialing a phone, unfortunately) about information he overheard about a business acquisition... yes, Don and his new pal just committed insider trading and the movie totally glosses over it and acts like this is a legal thing for stockbrokers to do. I can't believe I watched something like this as a kid, either.