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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Universal Studios
Salesrank: 19611
Released: August 3, 2004 |
| Our Price: $4.91 |
| Used Price: $4.83 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
This underrated film by director Paul Mazursky stars Richard Dreyfuss as an underemployed actor who is offered a great acting role, though outside of New York. Still, beggars can't be choosers and he accepts--only to discover that the part involves impersonating the dictator of Parador, a troubled Central American country on the verge of revolution. The dictator has died, but his chief adviser (Raul Julia) doesn't want that news to come out; he'd rather continue the charade that the big guy is still in charge. And to his surprise, the actor discovers that he enjoys the acting challenge, until he figures out that Julia is positioning himself to take over as the country's true strongman. Naturally, Dreyfuss also discovers that, aside from enjoying the perks of power (including the late dictator's toothsome mistress, Sonia Braga), he actually has the power to do some good--to Julia's chagrin. Dreyfuss captures the actor's insecurity, while Julia is hilarious as the wild-eyed adviser to whom torture is second nature. --Marshall Fine
Moon Over Parador Reviews:
Waning MOON 
2008-10-13 - Twenty years ago, at the time MOON OVER PARADOR was released, my then wife and I were subletting a room to a female graduate student who had spent a lot of time in South America. Well, she caught this film--which was admittedly not high on my list at the time--and came home spouting her indignation over its "stereotypical treatment" of Latin Americans and cliche notions of South American politics. My reaction: Hmm, probably right, but still sort of a tempest in teapot.
I suppose the reason that it sticks in my memory is that she brought it up more than once. Had it been a film that was doing a lot of box office, it might have been more of an issue. At the very least, her comments weren't enough to make we rush out and check it out for myself. From what I knew of the film, it seemed pretty formulaic. And hadn't Woody Allen covered that ground with his classic BANANAS.?
Still it seems quite remarkable that this (then) young woman's vituperative comments about the film have stuck in my mind lo these many years--enough so that when I saw the film on sale in VHS format for a ridiculously low price (hey, it WAS VHS and besides the store was closing), I decided to pick it up and see just what had upset her so much.
Well, she certainly had a point--or two or three. The stereotypes are pretty broad. On the other hand, precisely because they are CLEARLY stereotypes, it seems doubtful that any intelligent viewer will come away from the film with severe misconceptions about South American politics or cultures. And since the country in question is clearly fictional (Parador, being a "comically" clumsy amalgam of Paraguay and Ecuador, but not really understood to be either), you might ask, what's the harm? You might even decide that the film--if it has any theme at all--is really about corruption WHEREVER it exists. In this film, the politicians are, predictably, either Machiavellian or just completely out of touch. But it's not as though the political admixture of ineptness and corruption were unknown in this country, after all. Raul Julia is no more sinister in this movie than, say, Frank Langella was in the similarly (identically?) themed DAVE a few years later. And as viewers will recall, that film took place in the good old US of A.
If MOON OVER PARADOR is not a truly bigoted film (as my housemate asserted), it is also not really sharp enough a satire to make much of a statement at all--be it about Latin American politics, corruption as part of the human condition or just about anything else.
That's unfortunate since the film's strong cast and its noted director, Paul Mazursky, would seem to promise more than the film wound up delivering. It does give Richard Dreyfuss yet another chance (after GOODBYE GIRL) to be an actor playing an actor--an occasion that almost by definition allows one to be as hammy as you wanna be. You gotta hand it to him. He makes the most of it.
Snore 
2008-08-23 - I rec'd two copies of this movie for some reason. Will give one to a friend rather than pay shipping and handling to return it to you.
Moon Over Parador was my husbands choice, he had seen it a very long time ago and thought it was funny. We tried to watch it all the way through, but it was a bore.
after one month no product
2008-05-24 - Ordered Moon over Parador on April 20 - it s now May 23 and I still haven't received it.
Interesting film! 
2008-02-27 - This is an interesting film,I have to admit. An actor playing an actor and filling in for a identical-looking figure who had become terminally ill and/or passed away. That's exactly what Richard Dreyfuss did in this film. Here's who else did the same:Michael J. Fox playing an actor in THE HARD WAY,a Universal property like this film and Ted Danson playing an actor in THREE MEN AND A BABY and THREE MEN AND A LITTLE LADY. Kevin Kline filled in for an identical-looking figure in DAVE. Anyway,in this film,Dreyfuss is actor Jack Noah who films a movie in Parador about the life of a dictator(technically,Dreyfuss assumes a dual role). The mustachioed dictator himself had passed away(Jack sports no facial hair at all). Great support from the late Raul Julia(THE ADDAMS FAMILY,ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES) and Sonia Braga.
good entertainment
2007-08-06 - this movie is very funny and entertaining. Richard Dreyfus is an excellent actor and does a fine job of impersonation. Definitely worth seeing over and over.
