I have a painful admission for all of you out there. I like Oscar. We’re pals. We haven’t hung out in a while but, you know … that happens in relationships. I’m not going to point fingers and say who is at fault. We just grew apart, couldn’t find time for each other. I may have even bad-mouthed my pal every now and again (everybody else does). But recently we had a reunion, and I say again, I like Oscar.

You may know my pal as the 1991 Sylvester Stallone bomb, his first foray into screwball comedy (Daylight came later). I know it as a pretty successful update on the What’s Up Doc play of suitcases. Stallone plays Angelo “Snaps” Provolone, and if that name isn’t worth the price of admission then I don’t know what is. Snaps is a 1930s-era gangster, but the nice, snuggly kind. What’s more, he’s made a promise to his father (a funny Kirk Douglas) on the patriarch’s deathbed that he will quit his life of crime and go legit. But the coppers aren’t convinced and they’re all over Snap’s case. His spoiled daughter (Marisa Tomei), personal doctor (Tim Curry), thieving accountant (Vincent Spano), fast talking right-hand man (Paul Reigert), dim-witted muscle (Chazz Palminteri) and troublesome housemaid (can’t place her), all add to the headaches with enough subplots to fill a season of Days of Our Lives.

Screwball comedy is tough and maybe that’s where some of my love (however guilty) springs from. I love the genre: Bringing Up Baby, Duck Soup, Who’s That Girl … (ahem). Just consider, when was the last time you saw Hollywood even attempt to make a screwball comedy? I remember when The American President was in the development stages and Robert Redford was attached, there was talk of making it screwball. But Rob Reiner was intent on going Capra with the film instead, and Redford bailed.

Filmmakers fear the screwball comedy, and they should. They’re hard to nail, but I think this film makes a pretty good go of it. And guess what? I think Stallone is pretty great in the role. I fear I’m alone on this one, though. Oscar is like that guy you’ve hung out with for years but your girlfriend can’t stand. Your other, more sophisticated friends think he’s vulgar and annoying. You’d probably never invite him to a black-tie gathering. But the guy, he makes you laugh. The way I see it, we all need friends like that.

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Dre writes five times a week for Film.com, covering movies and DVD with his Floridian flare. E-mail him!