Let It Ride Reviews

Taxi driver Trotter (Richard Dreyfuss) makes a pledge to his long-suffering wife, Pam (Teri Garr), that he will cut down on playing the ponies. But, naturally, the pledge is quickly forgotten when a fellow cabby (David Johansen) gives him a hot tip on a long shot. At the track, one tip leads to another. The best thing that can be said about LET IT RIDE's script is that it doesn't contain any false moralizing or strained attempts to turn horse racing or betting into metaphors for life, fate, or anything else. Indeed, what is unusual is that, for racing fans, it's 90 minutes of pure wish-fulfillment fantasy. And LET IT RIDE is fun to watch from time to time. With so many funny people in one film, you're bound to get a few laughs along the way. The major irritant is the hyperactive direction by Joe Pytka, a near-legendary helmer of TV commercials who films each scene as if it were the last, with everybody in the frame strenuously choreographed and overly busy. The effect is wearying rather than energizing. Pytka's comedic touch is no less heavy-handed: he never teases a gag when he can sledgehammer it.