`wild' Times Are Remembered By Those Who Were There 
In The February Issue Of Boxoffice Magazine, Reaction To The Late Sam 
Peckinpah's 1969 Controversial Western ``the Wild Bunch'' Is Remembered: ``the 
Audience Reaction Was Extreme,'' Recalled Roger Ebert Of A Screening For 
Critics. ``some People Walked Out. Others Closed Their Eyes. When The Lights 
Went Up, The Applause Was Matched By Boos And Hisses. And Then The Arguments 
Started.''

By JOE BUTKIEWICZ; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Thursday, January 19, 1995 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 





"Houseguest" isn't the first movie comedy to have a visitor mussing the
linens, burping at dinner and disrupting the family routine. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Once in a great while, however, is plenty enough. And if another comes
knocking, dim the lights, muffle Fido and pretend no one is home. "Houseguest"
could make the gregarious turn solitary. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This middling comedy features a happy-go-luckless loser named Kevin on the
run from mobsters. Mid-lam, he encounters suburbanite Gary Young waiting at
the airport to pick up Derek Bond, the old friend he hasn't seen in 25 years. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Kevin pretends he's Derek and dupes Gary and his dysfunctional family.
Right here is when the laff-riot is scheduled to begin. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 With amply-proportioned comedian Sinbad playing Kevin and Phil Hartman of
"Saturday Night Live" playing Gary, this home boy in a WASP nest nearly
collapses into that cinema cliche of white people, dry and dull as dirt,
blacks, easygoing and irresponsible and the two teaching each other
life-lessons. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 What elevates this movie from embarrassing to mediocre is the plot
coincidence that Sinbad plays the antithesis of the person his character is
impersonating. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Kevin is a careless dreamer and junk food addict. Derek Bond is supposedly
a fastidious vegetarian and successful professional. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 One of Kevin's many dilemmas is that he can't figure out which profession. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 So Sinbad bluffs through a speech at high school career day, feigns a taste
for wine, a swing for golf and a flair for dental surgery. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Houseguest" has some buoyancy thanks to Sinbad's exuberance. But too often
his scenes feel like undeveloped comedy riffs, as if director Randall Miller
("Class Act") tossed the script and asked Sinbad to do his thing. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 As Gary, the suburbanite with the spine and soul of processed cheese,
Hartman plugs away like a poor man's Charles Grodin. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The movie has a curious pace, caused by editing that eliminated a
significant number of pauses. In another movie that would be choppy; here, it
thankfully shortens the visit. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

`houseguest' Never Settles In