BT1886

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

Interestingly enough, Carl Reiner is a director whose work I’ve barely scratched, and Steve Martin—despite being a defining face of ‘80s comedy—is someone I’ve only really known from two films (Pink Pantherand Trains, Planes, and Automobiles) and through cultural osmosis. Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid marks my first proper dive into Reiner and Martin’s collaboration, and as a concept, it’s an undeniably clever one: a spoof of noir that stitches Martin’s goofiness with snippets of classic films starring Bogart, Stanwyck, and Gardner. Cleverness alone, however, doesn’t always make for a satisfying watch. As a film, this just didn’t quite work for me. The editing is fun for a while, but it quickly becomes apparent that the film is more of a patchwork than a narrative. Scenes lurch around from one gag to the next, lacking any type of cohesion, and while that may be part of the joke, it also made it hard for me to stay engaged. I wish I found it funnier, too—Martin is game, and Reiner’s direction here truly feels like something out of the 50’s, but most of the punchlines did not land. I can appreciate Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid for what it’s trying to do, and there’s something endearing about the ambition of the concept. But for me, it feels more like a novelty than a movie. • Watched in 2025 — Ranked (https://boxd.it/C7Jq6)