Movie Review: Hot To Trot
RATING: ************ out of ****
(not even rated on RottenTomatoes.com)Last night, I watched Hot to Trot with a couple of friends. No one could track down a DVD copy of it in a physical store. It’s not even on Netflix. Apparently, it’s on Amazon.com for the outrageous price of $14.99, but then you also have to wait for it to come in the mail and seeing this movie— nay, film— nay, cinema - was too urgent for us.
Luckily, the magic of the Internet pulled through and, after three attempts at trying to copy the (legally obtained) file off of someone’s laptop, we were finally successful and having our collective mind blown away by the finest comedic gem you’ve never seen.
What’s most impressive about this is the cast: Bobcat Golthwait in his first leading man role, Dabney Coleman through use of prosthetic teeth giving an unforgettable performance, Virginia Madsen never looking better, Tim Kazurinsky, Mary Gross, Gilbert Gottfried(!), and the voice of John Candy stealing the show by improvising all of his own lines.
That’s not even mentioning Burgess Meredith making an uncredited cameo as the voice of John Candy’s horse’s dad. (He probably didn’t want to take away from the other actors and distanced his association from this film).
This is a movie that makes up its own rules. Just when you think, “Hey, they can’t do that within the established dramatic rules of the movie up to this point!” they do it.
There’s even a scene that The Matrix directly rips off over 10 years later where Bobcat Golthwait is out on a ledge of an office building (that looks like it was probably the same set).
Hot to Trot is unique, ahead of its time, and even though the world forgot about it, you won’t when you give it a watch.
After having this unique cinematic experience, I did some research and found out that Hot to Trot is available on YouTube’s movies section for the outrageously low price of $1.99 for a 24 hour pass in beautiful 480 resolution. (Link)
So stop reading this, get out your credit card, and start watching that!
