Picks and Pans Review: Bachelor Party

When last seen, in Splash, Tom Hanks was wandering off, hand in fin, with Daryl Hannah. He needn’t have come back for this lame comedy. Directed and co-written by Neal (Americathon) Israel, it is notable for lack of taste as well as lack of laughs; the best thing to be said for it is that this is equal-opportunity boredom. (There are some penis jokes mixed in with the breast jokes.) Hanks plays a lovably shiftless school bus driver. You can tell he’s a real rascal when he uses a blowtorch to cook his dinner. He’s engaged to newcomer Tawny Kitaen, a debutante whose father, George Grizzard, wishes she would marry someone more couth. Hanks is given a bachelor party by his buddies, who have a lot in common, mostly a penchant for overacting. (Adrian Zmed of T.J. Hooker is the most familiar face.) The obvious complications ensue, centering on Hanks’ promise to Kitaen that he won’t dabble among the hookers invited to the party. The film’s best joke comes when one of the buddies, despondent about his own marriage, tries to slit his wrist with an electric razor. Every other time they were stuck for a punch line, it would seem, Israel and co-writer Pat Proft decided to toss in an obscenity. (R)