LOS ANGELES -- "The Out-of-Towners" was a slight comedy the first time around, when Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis co-starred in the 1970 film about a middle-age couple menaced by a series of misfortunes in New York City.
Twenty-nine years later, the new version -- based on the original Neil Simon script, but this time penned by Marc Lawrence -- is still basically a parade of harrowing events loosely strung together and played for laughs."This movie is not a cure for cancer," star Goldie Hawn admits.
Still, even with (or especially with) light comedy, remaking is hard to do. Hawn's co-star, Steve Martin, was quite aware of this going in. The actor admits he was hesitant to take on the lead role made famous by Lemmon. What convinced him?
"Goldie," he said simply.
The two TV veterans -- she cut her teeth on "Laugh-In," he as a standup comedian (with frequent appearances on "The Tonight Show" and "Saturday Night Live") -- were first an on-screen couple in 1992's "Housesitter." That quirky romantic comedy portrayed Hawn as a free spirit determined to loosen up the strait-laced Martin. Now, they're reunited in a romantic caper comedy that stars Hawn as a free spirit . . . well, you get the idea.
Those types don't seem too far from the mark. Both 53, the actors have distinctly different personalities. Hawn comes flouncing into an interview, wearing a tight mint-colored sweater, talking freely about her most personal relationships. She's an active, encouraging listener, often nodding and saying, "good question."
Martin is buttoned-up in a sports jacket and slacks and is very reserved when interviewed. Even the movie's director, Sam Weisman, admits he was a bit intimidated by Martin at first. "He's quiet. You think, maybe he doesn't like me," said Sam Weisman, who most recently directed Brendan Fraser in the comedy hit "George of the Jungle."
Martin admits he's come a long way from his standup days, and is a lot choosier about his work today. "I'm at a place now where I don't want to go to Edmonton for three months," said Martin. He quickly adds, though, that for the right person and project, he's willing to travel. "When I did 'The Spanish Prisoner' (the 1998 David Mamet film), believe me, I didn't mind going to the Florida Keys."
Hawn happily chats about her belief in psychics, and about keeping her relationship with Kurt Russell fresh. "We got a hotel room the other night, just to change the surroundings," she volunteers. By contrast, the raciest Martin gets is when he jokes that the secret to his camaraderie with Hawn is "no sex."
Opposites seem to attract in this case and make for a natural comedy team. "I think it's apparent on the screen that we get along well," Martin said. Even director Weisman was in on the Martin-Hawn love fest.
"I never had a bad moment . . . making this movie was a very wonderful, loving experience," said Weisman. "There was never a day I didn't look forward to seeing (Martin and Hawn), which is something I haven't ever been able to say about actors before."
Both Weisman and Hawn say that even when Martin switches from introvert to wild-and-crazy guy, the source of his humor remains a mystery to them. Asked about his thoughts on this, Martin allows, "Humor comes from so many different places," he said. "It comes from joy, it comes from anger, it comes from desperation."
Martin adds, though, that humor theory is not something he discusses much with his fellow comedians. Asked whether he talked about their profession with "Monty Python" veteran John Cleese, who has a flashy supporting part, Martin replied: "Martin Mull once said to me that when painters get together, they don't talk about painting. They talk about where they buy their brushes."
Cleese has a memorably Cleese-ian part as a snooty hotel manager who turns out to be a secret cross-dresser. He employs the "silly walk" of his "Python" days, as he struts in furs and stiletto heels.
Like Cleese, Martin has been known most notably for his physical comedy, from his "Happy Feet" days to his remarkable role as a man inhabited by the spirit of a woman (Lily Tomlin) in 1984's "All of Me." In "The Out-of-Towners," Martin does get to draw on this physical humor but also has to express the quiet frustration of the urban white male, which Lemmon practically trademarked decades ago.
Though at first reluctant to do the role, Hawn won him over. "Goldie said, 'We have to do this, because it's what so many people are going through: Your children are grown, what do you do?' " recalled Martin. "So, I said, 'OK, I'm going with you. I'm going to trust your instincts,' " he added.
However, Martin admits a moment of doubt did flash across his mind, even as he took Goldie up on the challenge. "But then I said, 'Goldie, if you tell me a year later, your psychic told you to do this, I'm going to kill you,"' he said, mock-seriously.
Hawn had the last laugh, though. "After we did the movie, we all liked it," Martin said, "and it was then that Goldie, said, 'That was exactly what my psychic said would happen.' "