Body swapping is the high concept that, at first glance, looks tailor-made for Hollywood comedies. However, in order to properly work, it requires great comedic talents both in front and behind the cameras. One such example is All of Me, 1984 film directed by Carl Reiner.
The plot, based on unpublished novel Me Two by Edwin Davis, begins with Roger Cobb (played by Steve Martin), 38-year old jazz guitarist who has abandoned musical career for the more lucrative job as a lawyer in firm run by Burton Schuyler (played by Dana Elcar) and specialised for extremely rich clients. One of them is Edwina Cutwater (played by Lily Tomlin), woman who spent all her life afflicted by bad health. As her death approaches, she concocted an outrageous plan to cheat it by employing services of Prahka Lasa (played by Richard Libertini), Asian guru with apparent ability to transmigrates souls from one body to another. Terry Hoskins (played by Victoria Tennant) is a young woman who volunteered to receive Edwina’s soul and Edwina has hired Roger to rewrite her will, making Terry the sole beneficiary. The ritual goes very wrong and Edwina’s soul ends in Roger’s body, but controlling only one of its halves. Roger didn’t like Edwina while she was alive and she likes her even less as someone who shares his body, but two of them are forced to cooperate in order to find the way to end that frustrating situation.
Despite interesting premise, script by Phil Alden Robinson is nothing to write home about. It has couple of plot holes and it takes some time before actually putting two protagonists in their predicament and allowing proper comedy. Thankfully, both director Reiner and Steve Martin are at the top of their game and All of Me is significantly better than The Man with Two Brains, their previous collaboration which used somewhat similar concept. Martin is especially effective in the scenes in which Roger and Edwina struggle to control single body, which shows great skills in physical comedy. All of Me also doesn’t shy away from some sex-related humour, like in the scenes where Roger must use urinal and have sex while still having Edwina in his body. Lily Tomlin is also good in her role, but her character (at least in corporeal form) leaves the film relatively early and appears as voice in Roger’s head. This problem is solved by having Edwina visible to Roger when he looks in the mirror, which is solution some critics might call cheap. Some of today’s critics, especially those of “woke” persuasion, might find some of the humour transphobic and sexist, while the scenes featuring Prakha Lasa, played brilliantly by Richard Libertini, would be accused of orientalism or racist stereotypes. On the other hand, those who care little about contemporary politics would find All of Me to be mostly entertaining and good-natured film that tries to be anything but mean to its characters. That includes even Terry, the main villainess, who receives happy end of her own; in somewhat ironic real life twist, Victoria Tennant later became Martin’s wife. Another advantage of this film is relatively short running time, which prevents audience to notice too much flaws in this unoriginal but mostly effective comedy.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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