Cadillac Man is a 1990 American black comedy film directed by Roger Donaldson, starring Robin Williams and Tim Robbins. The plot of the film centers around car salesmanJoey O'Brien whose life is consumed by turmoil, which all comes to a head when his dealership is taken hostage by Larry, a crazed motorcyclist. The film received mixed reviews from critics and performed poorly at the box office, grossing $27.6 million against its $15 million budget.
Plot
Joey O'Brien must deal with the ever-increasing pressures in his life: he has an ex-wife demanding alimony, a daughter who is missing, a married mistress and a single mistress who are both desperately in love with him, and a two-day deadline to either sell twelve cars or lose his job. In addition, he has an outstanding loan to a Mafia don which he must either quickly repay, or lose his life. On the day of the big dealership car sale, the car dealership is taken hostage by an AK-47-toting motorcyclist who believes his wife is cheating on him. Joey manages to talk the man out of doing any harm to the other hostages, as police surround the dealership. Without realizing that the assailant's gun is not loaded, the police wound him after most of the hostages have already been released which prompts Joey to promise to remain with him while he recovers. The crisis solves all of Joey's problems: his mistresses learn of each other and dump him, his daughter returns, his job is secure, the Mafiadon forgives his debt, and he begins to reconcile with his ex-wife.
The film was not a box office success, although it did turn a profit.
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 55% based on 11 reviews. Metacritic gives it a score of 50 out of 100 based on 21 critic reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B-" on scale of A to F. Critic Roger Ebert had mixed feelings about the film, giving it a two out of four stars, stating, "My problems with Cadillac Man were probably inspired more by false expectations than by anything on the screen, and maybe if Robbins had come crashing in through the window in the first scene I would have liked it more."
