Clean Slate (1994) Reviews

• Hugely under-rated

  Edu-162004-10-15

  Interesting premise with many surprisingly funny moments. It's not Oscar Wild - but not low-brow either. The humour is unusually under-played at times - which makes a refreshing change. There are jokes here that you don't necessarily get the first time around - particularly liked the later explanation for the mural painters many attempts at Mona Lisa - + a nice tie in to the film title. It could have been a little 'sick' - but the medical condition is used to tasteful effect (I thought) - without milking it dry. So clearly the inspiration for Mememto that I'm surprised there wasn't more comment at the time. The 'system' for remembering things, and the abuse made of the illness by those in the know.....all directly lifted by the later Mememto - albeit in a more serious genre. Not sure how I missed this at the time - and much better than the current score of 5.5 suggests.

• One of my favorite comedies

  nucksfan4life2002-05-26

  "Clean Slate" is a funny movie. I was one of the few people who saw this in theaters and its been a favorite ever since. A guy who loses his memory every night allows for some great comedic possibilities and the movie delivers. Dana Carvey is such a funny actor. I'd love to see him get more starring opportunities. Also great in this movie is the dog. This is a fantastic comedy. Anyone should enjoy it and laugh a lot.

• Dana Carvey rules

  ajdagreat2001-06-06

  Dana Carvey, one of the most talented SNL alumni ever, shows that not all of his movies suck in this hilarious movie. Dana Carvey is outstandingly funny, and the whole situation is so bizarre that it's quite amusing. Why do the critics hate this movie so much? This movie is definitely worth watching.

• Dana Carvey is truly an underrated talent

  Brad_Dharma2001-06-18

  This movie is one of my favorite comedies. I saw it before I knew that Dana Carvey was Garth from Wayne's World (this was before my great interest in Cinema and now know everything about films in the '90s and '00s). I found it to be very entertaining and have seen it many times since. I love it when an ex-SNL actor is able to star in a movie that is not based on a Character they did on SNL (Mike Myers in So I Married and Axe Murderer, Adam Sandler in Billy Madison, and Chris Farley, David Spade in Tommy Boy). Carvey has this charm about him as seeming like a regular guy. He does not seem like the Hollywood type. I think he is highly underrated and I hope he can find his niche again. Clean Slate is the comedy version of Memento, or Memento is the serious version of Clean Slate. I heard that Adam Sandler was producing a script Dan Carvey wrote, so I hope something comes of that.

• Best Character In The Film Was The Dog

  ccthemovieman-12007-07-23

  Okay, But Not Memorable (Pun Intended) I didn't find this as humorous as I had hoped to find after Carvey's hit "Wayne World" farces. The high, in a dark humor-ish vein, was the dog in the film. The mutt who had a depth perception problem and kept running into things, was easily the best character in the movie. The premise was fine: a private detective (Dana Carvey playing "Maurice Pogue") with short term memory loss, meaning the following day he keeps forgetting what happened the previous 24 hours. Add a femme fatale and some wild gangsters, and this film should have been hilarious....but it wasn't. The running gags with Pogue faking things all the time because of the memory problems is what became annoying. Part of the problem might have been casting. Carvey looks like anything but a hard-boiled detective. Also, although I did laugh at some things, we have a modern-day comedy more needless sexual innuendos, sado-masochism offered and the like. Why? If you have a good comedian and a good story, you don't need that garbage. I think most Carvey fans were disappointed with this film.