Outrageous Fortune (1987)

Two struggling actresses with opposite personalities, one (Shelley Long) is refined but uptight while the other (Bette Midler) is brash and loud, who dislike each other find themselves involved with the same man, a teacher (Peter Coyote). But what seems like a romantic rivalry takes a bizarre turn when he fakes his own death and both the CIA and KGB chase the girls across the country. Directed by Arthur Hiller (THE OUT OF TOWNERS), this rather silly female buddy comedy is quite enjoyable in the mindless way of those Hope and Crosby ROAD movies. Hiller stays out of the way of his two lead actresses, both of whom know their way around a quip, and lets them strut their stuff. George Carlin gets a chance to share the spotlight as a stoned aging hippie but the remainder of the players are pretty negligible. It would be nice if the actresses had stronger material but if they don't turn dross into gold, at least their comedic timing covers up a multitude of sins. The annoying 80s synthesizer score is by Alan Silvestri. With Robert Prosky, John Schuck, Christopher McDonald and in an amusing turn as an airline ticket agent, Florence Stanley.