Synopsis
A murder takes place in the shop of David Lyons, a deaf man who fails to hear the gunshot being fired. Outside, blind man Wally Karue hears the shot but cannot see the perpetrator. Both are arrested, but escape to form an unlikely partnership. Being chased by both the law AND the original killers, can the pair work together to outwit them all?
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Cast
- Richard PryorWallace 'Wally' Karue
- Gene WilderDave Lyons
- Joan SeveranceEve
- Kevin SpaceyKirgo
- Alan NorthBraddock
- Lauren TomMitzie
- John CapodiceScotto
- Alexandra NeilSally
- Tonya PinkinsLeslie
- Anthony ZerbeSutherland
Recommendations
- 70
The New York Times
It's the none too promising assumption of See No Evil, Hear No Evil that one physical disability complements another, and that Wally and Dave are made for each other. Yet, against all odds, the movie goes on to prove it with a lot of good, unlikely humor that is often not in the best of taste.Mr. Pryor and Mr. Wilder have never worked better together, possibly because they are playing characters who, being blind and deaf, are not especially funny to begin with, but who also have a certain amount of intelligence. - 60
Washington Post
If it weren't for the good will that the stars have built up over the years, See No Evil would pass without notice; even with the stars, that's what it deserves. But these are ingratiating performers, even when working far below their peak. Watching them, you find yourself wanting to laugh even when the laughs are undeserved. - 50
Slant Magazine
Trapped inside its overwritten crime story is a breezy character study starring two men with genuine chemistry and a flair for both physical and verbal comedy. In the rare moments when Pryor and Wilder simply talk to each other, there’s the potential for a funny and poignant interracial two-hander like I’m Not Rappaport. It’s too bad that potential is squandered on a senseless murder plot. - 50
Chicago Tribune
See No Evil, Hear No Evil is a strange concoction - a bad taste comedy with a big, beating heart. [12 May 1989, p.B] - 40
Empire
Badly scripted, hackneyed, cliched, deaf/blind comedy. - 40
Time Out
There's a resolutely untouching scene in which the pair discuss their relative philosophies for dealing with disability, but otherwise it's a long, painfully unfunny series of things being smashed up and fallen over. - 38
Chicago Sun-Times
The good idea: Richard Pryor plays a character who is blind, and Gene Wilder plays a character who is deaf, and once they become friends they make a great team. The possibilities for visual comedy with this idea are seemingly endless, but the movie chooses instead to plug the characters into a dumb plot about industrial espionage. - 25
TV Guide Magazine
Full of cheap disability jokes, stupid car chases, and boring shootouts, and none of it is very entertaining. Wilder and Pryor struggle mightily to pull it off, but the comic duo are capable of much more than this gimmick-filled rubbish allows.
