Delirious

You keep waiting for what should be a wild comedy to really take off, but this film sputters along without truly achieving liftoff. John Candy plays a writer for a TV soap opera whose life is as lovelorn as his show is packed with passion. A bump on the head, however, and it's Wizard of Oz time--except that Candy is now trapped in the world of his soap, with the advantage of knowing everyone's secrets, as well as what's going to happen next. Better yet, he's able to strike romantic sparks with characters whose actors (in real life) won't give him the time of day. But cuddly Candy isn't much of a romantic lead and the writing is too flat to let him really shine, even among a cast that includes Raymond Burr, David Rasche, and Emma Samms. --Marshall Fine