The Curse of Inferno was a movie that came out in 1997, starring Pauly Shore and Janine Turner.
I was in the video store searching for rare VHS tapes when I spotted this one. I couldn't believe it, it
was a Pauly Shore movie that I had never heard of. I immediately snapped it up.
When I got home and checked the movie out on IMDB I found out that this movie came right after Bio-Dome and
it was Pauly's last starring role in a traditional movie (he later produced a B-Movie entitled Pauly Shore is
Dead, but his career had been long over at that point). This was the movie that killed his career. He had an
entire string of movies where he had the starring role, then this one came out, and after that he was back to
playing "man in trunk" and doing voice acting.
I could tell right away what went wrong with this movie. You only have to get a few minutes into the film to
realize something. Pauly actually tried to play a character in this one. Acting isn't Pauly Shore's strong
point. He plays himself really well, and the success of all his previous movies was largely based on that fact.
But in this movie he tried to actually act, and he wasn't very successful. He even attempted an accent
throughout the entire film (a bad Texan accent).
Pauly and his brother attempt to rob a bank. They wanted $80,000 so they can start their own airplane based business. But things go awry and another group of robbers comes along and
tries to rob the bank at the same time. Pauly ends up trapped in the bathroom, and manages to pass himself off as a customer. Pauly and his brother become concerned after the robbery because the bank had way too much money on
hand. They found three million dollars, but on the news the bank claims they made off with just over $100,000.
They suspect some sort of money laundering scheme. I am not sure why they would care, when they are criminals
themselves, but they do.
Pauly and company are right. The bank manager and a "Boss Hog" looking character (Ned Beatty) were indeed laundering money. To complicate things further, Pauly and company never actually made it out of the bank with the money, it ended up hid inside the bank. The final complication is the fact that Pauly begins a relationship with a local police officer (Janine Turner) who is trying to solve the crime.
From this point on much hijinks ensues, as Pauly tries to get the girl, undo his crime, and get out of Inferno. Meanwhile the real bad guys are also trying to get their money back. And all the while his would-be girlfriend is beginning to get suspicious.
Of course everything turns out great in the end, with Pauly getting the girl and being able to start his charter plane business.
This movie isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. People who are unfamiliar with Pauly Shore will probably enjoy the movie more than those who do know him. I spent half the movie just thinking "why is Pauly Shore trying to act". The largest problem with the film is that it is a comedy, but Pauly only knows how to be funny in one way, so he ends up playing more of a dramatic role instead. This movie could have been Raising Arizona, but instead it ends up being totally forgettable.