''Opportunity Knocks'' is a 1990 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

starring

Dana Carvey Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his seven seasons as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1993, which earned him fiv ...

. It was directed by

Donald Petrie Donald Mark Petrie (born April 2, 1954) is an American film director and actor. Life and career Petrie was born in New York City, New York (state), New York, the son of Dorothea G. Petrie, Dorothea (née Grundy), a television producer, actor, a ...

Synopsis

Con men Eddie Farrell and Lou Pesquino need cash fast and pretend to be repair men sent to fix a gas leak. The con fails, but they escape. Eddie and Lou find an empty house that they decide to burglarize. When they learn from a message on the answering machine that the owner is out of the country and the man who was going to house-sit can't make it, they spend the night. The next day, Eddie and Lou are on the run from thugs sent by local gangster Sal Nichols, to whom they owe money. After they find themselves separated, Eddie takes refuge in the empty house. In the morning, Eddie walks out of the shower and meets Mona Malkin, whose son owns the house. She assumes Eddie is her son's friend Jonathan Albertson, the one supposed to house-sit. Eddie plays along, meeting Mona's businessman husband Milt, who offers him a job. Eddie decides to run a "love con" on Milt's daughter Annie in order to gain access to Milt's money. However, Lou is captured by Nichols. Eddie and his aunt Connie and uncle Max conspire to get Nichols off their backs for good. Along the way, Eddie falls in love with Annie.

Cast

as Eddie Farrell *

Robert Loggia Salvatore "Robert" Loggia ( , ; January 3, 1930 – December 4, 2015) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Jagged Edge'' (1985) and won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for ...

as Milt Malkin *

Todd Graff Todd Graff (born October 22, 1959) is an American actor, writer and director, best known for his 2003 independent film '' Camp'' and his role as Alan "Hippy" Carnes in the 1989 science fiction film ''The Abyss''. Early life Graff was born in New ...

as Lou Pesquino *

Julia Campbell Julia Campbell (born March 12, 1962) is an American film and television actress. Her most noted role to date was "mean girl" Christie Masters in ''Romy and Michele's High School Reunion''. Career Campbell had a starring role in the feature fil ...

as Dr. Annie Malkin *

Milo O'Shea Milo Donal O'Shea (2 June 1926 – 2 April 2013) was an Irish actor. He was twice nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performances in '' Staircase'' (1968) and '' Mass Appeal'' (1982). Early life O'Shea was born and ...

as Max *

James Tolkan James Stewart Tolkan (born June 20, 1931) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Mr. Strickland in ''Back to the Future'' (1985) and ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), and as Marshall Strickland in ''Back to the Future Part ...

as Sal Nichols *

Doris Belack Doris Belack (February 26, 1926 – October 4, 2011) was an American character actress of stage, film and television. Life and career Belack was born in 1926 in New York City, the younger daughter of Isaac and Bertha Belack, Jewish immigrants ...

as Mona Malkin * Sally Gracie as Connie * Mike Bacarella as Pinkie *

John M. Watson, Sr. John M. Watson Sr. (January 10, 1937 - September 7, 2006) was an American Jazz musician and actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in films such as ''Groundhog Day, The Fugitive, Natural Born Killers'', and ''Soul Food.'' He was also a no ...

as Harold Monroe * Beatrice Fredman as Bubbie *

Thomas McElroy Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy are an American R&B record production and songwriting duo, releasing recordings under the names Foster & McElroy and Fmob. They have written and produced songs for musicians such as Club Nouveau, Tony! Toni! Ton ...

as Men's Room Attendant * Gene Honda as Japanese Businessman *

Del Close Del Close (March 9, 1934 – March 4, 1999) was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was ...

as Williamson * Michelle Johnston as Club Singer *

Lorna Raver Lorna Raver is an American retired actress who has appeared in numerous plays, films, and television series. She is sometimes credited as Lorna Raver Johnson. Life and career Raver was born in York, Pennsylvania, and was raised in a Pennsylvan ...

as Eddie's Secretary * Judith Scott as Milt's Secretary

Reception

Box office

The film was not a success and earned $11 million against a production budget of $13 million. The film's original teaser trailer involved Carvey's ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' character

The Church Lady Enid Strict, better known as The Church Lady, is a recurring character from a series of sketches on the American television show, '' Saturday Night Live'', that appeared from 1986 to 1990, and again in 1996, 2000, 2011, and 2016. She also appeared ...

, though she does not appear in the film.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film has a score of 11% based on reviews from 9 critics.

Soundtrack

The song "Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World" by

Johnny Clegg Jonathan Paul Clegg, (7 June 195316 July 2019) was a South African musician, singer-songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and anti-apartheid activist, some of whose work was in musicology focused on the music of indigenous South African people ...

is featured over the end credits.

References

External links

* * * * * 1990 films 1990 comedy films American comedy films Films set in Chicago 1990s English-language films Universal Pictures films Imagine Entertainment films Films directed by Donald Petrie Films scored by Miles Goodman Films produced by Chris Meledandri Films about con artists 1990s American films {{1990s-comedy-film-stub