"Water" Floats Along on a Few Good Yucks

Water

Starring Michael Caine, Valerie Perrine, Brenda Vaccaro, Billy Connolly, Jimmie Walker

Directed by Dick Clement

Written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, and Bill Persky

There's something oddly refreshing about watching a film that aims low and hits its mark. Like a Cheech and Chong film. You know you're in for a silly and ultimately worthless ninety minutes of low-brow humor. You're in no imminent danger of having your intellect challenged or your consciousness raised. And yet you find yourself laughing, smiling, and shaking your head, thoroughly entertained for the duration. The feeling doesn't last, of course. It's all but vanished by the time you turn off the TV and put the DVD back in its case.

Water is just such a film.

The movie is centered around the people and politics of Cascara, a tiny little-known island in the Caribbean. Cascara is a British colony of little economic or strategic import, ruled by its rather easy-going Governor, Baxter Thwaites (Michael Caine).

Things are pretty mellow on Cascara until representatives for Spenco, a massive American oil conglomerate, return to the island to film Hell Holes of the Earth, one in a series of television commercials promoting the company and its willingness to cover the globe in search of oil. Of course, its oil rights to Cascara proved worthless years ago, but during their visit to the island they strike something worth much more than oil. You guessed it: water. Mineral water. Perrier. The works.

But oil and water simply don't mix, so Spenco decides to switch from the fossil fuel to the mineral water business. England wants to get into the act. So do the French, who want to destroy Spenco's operations on Cascara and preserve their share of the bottled water market. All hell breaks loose, and suddenly Cascara is thrust into the limelight of evening news cover stories and heated UN debates.

Director Dick Clement, who also wrote the screenplay with cohorts Ian La Frenais and Bill Persky, turns this premise into an amusing hour and a half of disarming comedy.

In addition to Michael Caine in the leading role, there are also Brenda Vaccaro as his socialite wife who'll do anything to leave the island, Valerie Perrine as an environmental activist out to save a species of bats endangered by Spenco's drilling operations, Fulton MacKay as the Reverend McNab whose spiritual lapses have made him related to nearly the entire island population, and Billy Connolly as the singing rebel whose most lethal weapon is a camouflaged electric guitar. And Jimmie Walker (Good Times) is absolutely Dyn-O-mite as Jay Jay, the oh-so-cool deejay of the island's radio station.

Former Beatle George Harrison (who shows up at the end of the film in a jam session with Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton) serves as executive producer along with long-time partner Denis O'Brien.

Water's brand of all-out, zany comedy owes a lot to the films Harrison worked on during his Beatles years (Help!, A Hard Day's Night, and Magical Mystery Tour) though this newest outing doesn't break any new ground, as the earlier films did. One also can't help but wonder whether Water would have been made at all if Harrison didn't need a tax deduction on all his Beatles income.

Either way, this proves to be an entertaining and diverting film. Though Water offers little in the way of taste, it is a nice low-calorie refresher which should quench most anyone's thirst for laughter.



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