User Reviews

Despite starring Shirley MacLaine and Jessica Lange, Wild Oats was in and out of theaters with hardly any notice…and losing a ton of money in the process. So what happened?! Surely with Shirley (and Jessica) this film should have been terrific. I kept asking myself this as I watched the film…because for a while I was really enjoying myself. And then….the film quickly went from fun and silly to, well, rather dumb. Rarely have I ever enjoyed a film as much as I was enjoying this one yet ended up disliking it! What happened??!! Quite simply…it was like two movies…one worth seeing and one hurriedly put together even though it often made little sense. It's a shame as the actresses were terrific and deserved better material.

The film began wonderfully…with a darkly comic funeral. I know funerals are not supposed to be funny…but the writing was spot on and the women hysterical. It seems that Eva (MacLaine) just lost her husband and she is going to have to sell her home and economize. However, when the insurance company makes a mistake and accidentally sends her a check for $5,000,000 instead of $50,000, her friend Maddie (Lange) convinces her that they should go on the adventure of their lives and they set off for the Canary Islands. All of this is delightful and even once they arrive in this tropical island, things stay fun…at least for a while.

Unfortunately, the film lost its momentum when a scam artist (Billy Connelly) cheats Eva out of her casino winnings (and they are astounding) and an insurance agent (Howard Hesseman) shows up looking for their $4,950,000! It then becomes a kooky comedy…and I say kooky like it's some sort of dopey sit-com. The two ladies go into the mansion of the most dangerous and famous criminal in all of the Islands…and instead of getting killed, everything just works out magically and everyone has a happily ever after! Huh?! None of this makes any sense and it left me feeling cheated. I had invested so much time and interest in the film only to have a silly, contrived ending that just left me annoyed.

If you are interested in seeing it anyway, the film just debuted on Netflix and is available on DVD through this service (no streaming option at this time). However, I'd strongly recommend you instead rent "Elsa & Fred"---a truly delightful film MacLaine recently made with Christopher Plummer and which is also available through this service. It's a remake of an Argentine film of the same name and both are well worth seeing.

The film really started off well when retired history teacher Eve gets far too much extra money from her recently deceased husband's life insurance policy.

She flees with her best friend, Jessica Lange, who really steals the film with her acting to the Canary Islands.

The film begins to fall apart when MacLaine is the victim of a scam artist who takes the money she has won at the gambling table as well.

Enter Howard Hesseman as an agent from the insurance company threatening MacLaine with arrest, if the money is not returned.

Finding out where the scam artists have gone and the reason for their ways makes the film turn ridiculous at best.

For retired high school teacher and new widow Shirley MacLaine, dealing with the excessive condolences and overly worried children (including daughter Demi Moore) has driven her nutty. They are trying to get her to agree to sell the house, even bringing a real estate agent to the funeral. Outspoken friend Jessica Lange keeps the vultures at bay, and when by mistake MacLaine ends up with a huge insurance settlement by mistake, they decide to pick up and leave for someplace exotic (the Canary Islands), unaware that an insurance company executive has been assigned to get the money back.

The highlight of the film for me was a sequence when McLane and Lang are trying to get through to the insurance company and keep having issues with the automated teller, having me laughing hysterically, having been in that same predicament many times in this modern world. I've screamed at the phone just as MacLaine and Lange do here.

There's a charming old European businessman (Billy Connolly) as well as a sexy con-man (Santiago Segura) thrown into the mix. It's nice to see MacLaine getting away from her grumpy old lady routine, playing someone who's actually quite nice and full of life. It's Lange who gets to be the "Ouiser", bluntly rude to guests at the funeral who overstay their welcome or keep repeating the same trite showing of condolences. At some points, MacLaine is an older version of Mame Dennis while Lange is definitely closer to Vera Charles. Very pleasant and entertaining with MacLaine obviously enjoying being a bit closer to the type of role she played back in the 60's.

It'a always great to see MacLaine & Lange, but this script is horrendous.

Technically, it is fine, but again, the writing is so horrible. Some of the supporting roles are quite miscast. The insurance investigator? And WHAT is Demi Moore doing?

It comes across as either performers wanting the paycheck, or a paid vacation in an exotic location.

Best Actress Oscar winners deserve better than this, as they age.

Lange is fantastic in "Feud," filmed a year later. MacLaine still has projects in 2023, at the age of 89.

Again, back to the screenplay. Just bad, bad dialogue, and a bunch of clichés.

I will also say, that the make-up is not the best - quite unflattering.

I have about thirty minutes left, and I doubt that I'll watch till the end credits.