Hot to Trot (1988, Bobcat Goldthwait, Dabney Coleman, John Candy (voice), Virginia Madsen) – Classic Movie Review 10,949

Director Michael Dinner’s 1988 Hot To Trot is a return to that awful old comedy idea about a talking horse and it predictably produces no laughs (or is that neigh laughs?).

John Candy voices Don, the horse that nags doltish hero (or is that coltish hero?) Fred P Chaney (Bobcat Goldthwait) with tips on the stock market. Chaney has inherited the stock market savvy horse after the death of his mother. Burgess Meredith voices Don’s Dad. Cue a Rocky joke. Don asks Fred to inspire him ‘like the old guy from Rocky – Meredith. Dabney Coleman plays the unamusing stereotypical villain.

It falls at the very first fence and the talented cast are bridled.

It runs 83 minutes but seems much longer. Neigh and thrice neigh.

It co-stars Virginia Madsen, Dabney Coleman, Cindy Pickett, Jim Metzler, Tim Kazurinsky, Gilbert Gottfried, Jack Whitaker, James Hong and Estelle Reiner.

It is written by Stephen Neigher (story and screenplay), Hugo Gilbert (story and screenplay) and Charlie Peters (screenplay).

Madsen said she made the film for the money. She admits the movie was an embarrassment, but she needed the money. Goldthwait wrote ‘Why would I do this?’ on the cover of the script, and his agent drew a dollar sign over it.

Warner Bros scheduled to release the film in late 1987 but poor test screenings led to John Candy replacing Elliott Gould as the voice of Don the Horse and the film was moved to Memorial Day weekend 1988. The horse’s role in the script was rewritten (uncredited) by Andy Breckman to try make the film funnier but Candy improvised the dialogue when he re-recorded the role.

Michael Dinner also made Catholic Boys, Off Beat, and The Crew but headed off to TV, where he won a Primetime Emmy for an episode of The Wonder Years (1988)

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,949

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