Search - We're No Angels on DVD

We're No Angels 1955

A Wilson | Canada | 08/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am not comparing movies, but like so many the original is
better. It would be nice to have the 1955 version in letter box released in DVD also. It is a wonderful movie and Humphrey
Bogart's last. Thanks"

Touching

M. Valentine | Ann Arbor, MI USA | 01/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I loved this movie. Its totally funny. The ending gave me goosebumps and portrays a thought provoking message of the "no matter what everlasting" love of God. Sean Penn especially was hilarious as was John C. Reilly's character and the moments these two share together. Overall a heartwarming and touching movie with funny bits thrown in. Not for someone looking to debate faith with logic in mind."

A fun film, gets better with repeat viewings

jon sieruga | Redlands, CA USA | 09/22/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Like most viewers (and the critics), I wasn't crazy about this buffoonish comedy when I first saw it in the '80s... but time has been kind to it. This remake of the Humphrey Bogart-Aldo Ray 1955 comedy-drama concerns escaped convicts (cut from three men, now two) who disguise themselves as priests and hide out in a bordertown, learning to love the residents if not their new vocations. Robert DeNiro mugs with a surprising vigor (his face seems to be made of rubber) and Sean Penn plays the dumb mug sidekick, and they're OK; but don't forget the supporting cast, which is excellent (particularly Demi Moore as a flooze and John C. Reilly as a seminarian). Production values are incredible (that entire town was built for the film) and there's a rousing climax involving a parade, a statue and a little girl (another great performance). Really not too bad, once you get over the shock of seeing two of our most intense, dramatic actors acting like two outta three stooges."

Feel-good movie

D. K. Stokes | 11/22/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Robert DeNiro and Sean Penn are 1920s-era convicts who are dragged along when a vicious killer escapes the electric chair. They end up in a town near the Canadian border, and are mistaken for a pair of priests expected at the local monastery.

So they masquerade as priests while looking for an opportunity to cross the border into Canada. An opportunity presents itself in the form of a procession/pilgrimage to the church's sister church across the border. Each priest participating has to bring along someone who needs help, so they decide on the deaf daughter of local laundress and prostitute, played by Demi Moore.

This version (there's a 1955 version, but there's no similarity between the movies at all) is billed as a comedy, but it's much more a drama, or maybe an allegory, though I don't have the time or inclination to delve into what it's an allegory for. There are humorous moments, to be sure, but it's not a laugh-aloud comedy at all.

It's about life-changing events, about miracles. We never do learn why DeNiro and Penn's characters were in prison to begin with, but we don't need to know. They begin as buddies, but the masquerade affects them in different ways. Penn's character thrives in the monastic life, despite, or maybe because of his ignorance. DeNiro and Moore's characters are world-weary and cynical, but they too are affected by the miraculous.

The movie leaves it up to the viewers to decide if the miracles are divine or human, but there's just enough mystery to allow you to believe if you want to.

We're No Angels leaves me with the same sort of feeling that Christmas movies like Miracle on 34th Street do--a kind of uplifted feeling, and a renewed faith in the human spirit. Or maybe I'm just feeling sappy."