Hanky Panky Reviews

HANKY-PANKY is a mess, and it's particularly unsatisfying considering the talents involved--including Gene Wilder and director Sidney Poitier, reunited by Columbia after the success of STIR CRAZY (1980). The plot concerns the ordeals of Wilder, an innocent man suspected of murder. While suffering and surviving various slapstick chases, beatings, and attempts on his life, hapless Wilder is teamed with Gilda Radner (later Wilder's wife), whose brother inexplicably commits suicide in the first reel. The comedy falls to a low level, as in one scene an airplane pilot belches at length before he expires, leaving novices Wilder and Radner to fly the plane. The action is strictly formulaic, and the performers resort to shtick, in this dull, silly film.