JasparLamarCrabb While it's unlikely to make anyone forget Preston Sturges, SUNBURN is an amiable screwball comedy. Pairing the effervescent Farrah Fawcett with the angst-ridden Charles Grodin has a lot to do with that. They make a good pair. The plot involves insurance investigator Grodin looking into a suspicious death in Mexico (his company is expected to payout $5,000,000). He hires Fawcett to act as his wife and along with wily private eye Art Carney they uncover a plot involving murder, blackmail and more than a few unpleasant characters. Fawcett and Grodin are a fun couple and Carney steals his scenes. The cast is peppered with a lot of names including Eleanor Parker, Seymour Cassel, William Daniels, John Hillerman and Keenan Wynn, though they really have little to do. Joan Collins of all people is hilarious as a nymphomaniac who gives Grodin a real run for his money. SUNBURN is the epitome of fluff, directed with a surprisingly light touch by Richard C. Sarafian, who specialized in films involving a lot of brutality (VANISHING POINT, LOLLY MADONNA XXX).

shelly10538 It's not "Citizen Cane" nor is it suppose to be, but I will always love this movie. Definitely makes me think of the late 70s, with it's visuals and "neat-o" soundtrack with cool songs by Wings and 10cc. I seen it on Showtime in about 1981 and have loved it ever since. I also remember that I just about flipped when it played "With a little luck" at the end. Charles Grodin is hilarious and Farrah is stunning. Joan Collins is kind of a hot cougar as well, if you are into horny old winos, which I must be. It'd make a great triple feature of late 70s light entertainment and music with "Xanadu" and "FM". Perfect movie to watch on an air conditioned hot summer day.

Bogmeister A forgettable easygoing romp in the rich tourist section of Mexico, this movie was hamstrung from the beginning with its insurance scam plot - not an exciting prospect. Grodin is the maverick investigator whom the head of the insurance company wants on the job even though he caused them some problems in the past. Grodin plays this sort of slack jawed throughout, to the point of annoyance. Farrah joins up as his make believe wife. This was Farrah in her prime, just post the silly Angels TV show and before she got into serious actress mode. It's her middle film in the 'S' trio - all of which bombed. She & Grodin are incompatible, in more ways than one, and the fact she does end up in bed with him feeds the fantasies of many a middle-aged males. Art Carney's a private eye employed by Grodin; he brings in the usual feisty old man humor. Joan Collins shows up as a rich, horny wife. A lot of the scenes are plain stupid, such as Grodin dressing up in a night prowler outfit for no reason, other than to appear stupid. But, since all of this takes place in hot weather, Farrah usually wears something skimpy. There's also a fairly exciting car chase in the last third, including a run-in with a bull - some of those shots looked very realistic, to the detriment of the bull.

moonspinner55 Based on Stanley Ellin's not-bad mystery novel "The Bind", "Sunburn" became Farrah Fawcett's second attempt to resurrect her TV golden-touch at the movies (it drove her back to television after one more try, the sci-fi bomb "Saturn 3"). It has amusing fashions and disco music, a pleasant ambiance at the outset, lots of sand and sunshine, but a script that becomes murky early on. There are too many sub-plots and incidental characters here (such as Joan Collins in an indescribable bit). The central relationship between insurance investigator Charles Grodin and model Fawcett (posing as his wife) is curious but unsatisfying, and Art Carney has very little to do as a gumshoe. Not a disaster by any means, and '70s aficionados will soak up the clichés, but it's easy to see why "Sunburn" never attained much of a following: it's a commercial for Acapulco--not a movie. *1/2 from ****