Down and Out in Beverly Hills

This hilarious Hollywood retelling of the classic Jean Renoir French farce Boudu Saved from Drowning emerges as a wry commentary on society's excess and has distinguished itself as an instant classic. Paul Mazursky (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) directs and Nick Nolte (Cape Fear, The Prince of Tides) stars as a vagrant who decides to kill himself by jumping into the swimming pool of rich wire-hanger magnate Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, The Goodbye Girl). Dreyfuss takes the bum into his dysfunctional home and soon Nolte and his murky past are causing everyone, from Dreyfuss's wife (Bette Midler) to his maid and mistress (Elizabeth Peña) to reexamine their own lives. Featuring a neurotic dog, an anorexic daughter, a sexually confused son, and Little Richard as a neighbor, this riotous household and its strange yet sympathetic inhabitants are the ingredients for one of the freshest, funniest comedies in years. --Robert Lane