When I saw this rating (5.0/10) on IMDb, I learnt one thing: IMDb ratings reflect NOTHING on the reality of movies. This movie is indeed one of the all-time funniest movies I've seen. It's so cleverly written, witty, and every single cast member has been selected to perfectly suit the role. The lines all come out naturally, and you cannot help but fall in love with this masterpiece. This movie is one of the very few movies I know line by line, and for a reason: Every line is memorable. I seriously cannot get over the totally unfair rating this movie is receiving here on IMDb. Martin Short and Danny Glover give a phenomenal performance, and make copycats out of all the black guy/white guy movies that followed.

Though this movie is still watchable, it doesn't even come near the brilliance of the original. For starters: 1981 was a defining year in french popular-cinema. That was the year when "Le Professionnel" and "La Chévre" was released. "Pure Luck" is an American remake of the second one, made ten years later. I sometimes really hate way American film-making works: when they got so tired of their own clichés, they do a remake of a foreign film, which has foreign clichés. That was the element that made these two french movies great. European clichés. When they made those movies, they were totally aware, that they are only using the old recipes, which already worked well. The french humor in La Chévre is hilarious, and goofy. The scenery gives you a nostalgic feel, and the actors are just plain brilliant. Never over-acting, just plain funny. The strong, and aggressive Depardieu, and the always unlucky Richard made an unforgettable duo. NOW this movie... It doesn't have ANY of the elements listed above. Danny Glover and Martin Short are raging idiots, screaming through cities and jungles, acting so bad, it makes even your average stand up comedy actor look pretty sharp. The story is the same, almost word-by-word, yet the jokes don't work. Okay, I am a bit too hard on this one, but the original La Chévre was a generational masterpiece. And this is not. Just an average American early nineties comedy, with not too many things to remember for. Not that bad, but hey, if you take time to dig up this one, search for the original instead!!!

Okay, not the greatest movie ever made. But a 4! A 3! It wasn't that bad ... You should know going in that, seeing as how it's starring Martin Short, there's a good possibility it won't be great. So keep those expectations low and you'll enjoy a half-decent (if you're in to slapstick) comedy. Uhm ... Minimum of ten lines, really? There just isn't that much to say about this movie. Danny Glover plays a cop, so that must have been a real stretch for him. Martin Short plays a hapless idiot. Bit of typecasting going on, I guess. I'd include a plot summary but I'm lazy, and someone else has already done it anyway. Wow, I never would have gotten into this 'comment' thing in the first place if I'd noticed there was a 10 line minimum. Doo dee doo, bloop de bloo. Anyone finding my comments interesting? Helpful? Probably not, eh? Ooh, that did it. Ten lines! Yeah! See ya.

The original French version "La Chevre" ('the goat', in France a symbol of bad luck), with Pierre Richard and Gerard Depardieu, is much funnier, but I too agree that Martin Short is a great comedian and that this movie works not bad. Anyway I'm sure that a couple like Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor would have do a much better job. Wilder also worked in an adaptation of another funny and successful French movie: "The Woman in Red", and it turned into a little masterpiece... For Martin Short "Pure Luck" was the second "French" adaptation after "Three Fugitives" from 1989 with Nick Nolte (in France the original movie starred again the duo Richard-Depardieu).