Angels with Angles

[StevePulaski]

Angels with Angles (2005)
Directed by: Scott Edmund Lane

Amy Wieczorek and Frank Gorshin (as George Burns) in Angels with Angles.

Rating: ★★
NOTE: Special thanks to long-time reader and friend Dennis for kindly sending me a copy of this seldom-seen film.

In the age of streaming, archivists, and piracy, accessibility is the furthest issue for film and film-lovers. It's gotten to the point where most of the Holy Grails are famously lost or unreleased films likely never to see the light of day, as tough of a pill as that is to swallow. But then there's something like Angels with Angles, an unobtainable oddity for the longest time until fairly recently being made available to stream on Amazon for just a couple of bucks. This is a film with a pedigree that should make people want to see it: it's the final film starring Rodney Dangerfield, even if he is only in two scenes, the penultimate film for the exuberant Frank Gorshin, and the swan-song for Soupy Sales, who you might be more familiar with by name then by his admittedly large body of work.

However, judging by how little information there is out there on Angels with Angles, there's reason to believe only a select number of "lucky" souls have seen it. Unevenly showing tendencies of a passion project, a variety show, and a film-school assignment as directed by a show off, the film follows the comic actor George Burns (played impressively well by Gorshin), who has died and gone to Heaven but only exists in the clouds as a level-one angel. George is desperately trying to reunite with his longtime love, Gracie (Amy Wieczorek), but she is a level-six angel, inaccessible to such a lowly supernatural being like himself. Unable to smoke his cigars and see his true love, he accepts a deal from God (Dangerfield, appropriately), who states that if he can save a down-on-his-luck musician (played by director Scott Edmund Lane) from destroying his life, he will be reunited with Gracie. Back on Earth, George tries to get his fix by having his newly appointed earthling and a pal of his get their hands on smuggled Cuban cigars, which ultimately leads to trouble in the form of a bitter operative (Julie Carmen), an assassin (also played by Gorshin), and eventually Fidel Castro.

As you can probably tell, Angels with Angles doesn't take itself nor its ridiculous premise too seriously. It's a classic rat-race/madcap comedy setup with broad situational comedy and a plethora of miscommunications that allow for the insanity to continue. It's not very polished in its presentation, it moves too quickly for its own good, introducing too many slight characters in all at once, but at least follows suit in conducting its silly concept in a fitting manner. It doesn't take long to become awestruck of everything on display, from Gorshin showing his talented impressionist side in replicating George Burns' stutter and mannerisms to Dangerfield soaking in a bathtub with surrounding smoke emulating a bubbling cauldron. The entire cigar subplot is a strange one, but it allows us to see how quick-witted Julie Carmen is, even if she is at her most shrill and testy here.

There's not much to say about Angels with Angles that's positive or negative. Tonally, it's similar to the Oh, God films, which also starred George Burns and served as both frothy comedies and morality plays, but it meanders in how bawdy and friendly it wants to be on a regular basis. No one in the film appears to be having a bad time, but deep in their eyes, you might infer that they'd like to be challenged more, and Scott Edmund Lane's screenplay doesn't give them many opportunities to fly. For a film set in the clouds, it's sure keen on not straying far from the surface.

Starring: Frank Gorshin, Scott Edmund Lane, David Proval, Julie Carmen, Amy Wieczorek, Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Mathers, Soupy Sales, Henry Darrow, and Branscombe Richmond. Directed by: Scott Edmund Lane.