Hardly Working
Reportedly, Jerry Lewis was two days into filming when he discovered the financing for this picture only amounted to $25,000. Lewis secured funds from entrepreneur James J. McNamara, his first credit as a producer. Later, work on this picture was stopped for six months in 1980 when the film ran out of financing and Lewis also declared himself bankrupt. The gap in filming has been said to have been responsible for continuity problems in the movie.,At one point, Lewis tries to open the hood of a car. The hood quickly pops up and knocks Lewis on his feet. In the next shot, the hood is back down without having been touched.,Michele Trent: I was wondering; do you think they'd ever let a girl be a clown in the circus some day?
Bo Hooper: Sure they will, if that's what you want and you put you mind to it. You can be anything you want. You can do anything. One day you might even be President.
Michele Trent: Maybe I'll be both!,Featured in Sneak Previews: Hardly Working/The Howling/'Breaker' Morant/Mon Oncle D'Amerique/Caveman (1981),Hardly Working (1980)

1/2 (out of 4)

Bo Hooper (Jerry Lewis) is a life long clown who finds himself out of work after the circus goes out of business. He ends up moving in with his sister and brother-in-law until he can find a job. He's able to get one job after another but he is quickly fired because he just isn't too bright. He eventually lands a job at the post office but his boss (Roger C. Carmel) hates him and that hatred grows even stronger when the boss finds out that Bo is dating his daughter (Susan Oliver).

HARDLY WORKING turned out to be the first Jerry Lewis film in a decade because THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED ended up never getting released. This "comeback" film had all sorts of problems including the production being shut down for several months because not enough money could be raised. The result on film is pretty bad on a number of levels but one of the biggest is the fact that the comedy just doesn't have many laughs that actually work. The production issues also how because the first half dealing with the brother-in-law is completely missing in the second half.

The first portion of the movie is basically just one poor skit after another. We see Lewis attempting to do various jobs with all of them ending in disaster. This includes one sequence involving him working at a gas station where he ends up destroying a car. The second portion of the movie gets away from the skit platform and deals with the romance with the girl. The problem is that these two different types of movies don't mix well together but the bigger issue is the fact that there aren't many laughs. The comedy is very forced but the direction by Lewis is less than impressive.

Roger Ebert really trashed this movie and called it one of the worst American films he ever saw. I wouldn't go that far but there's no question that Lewis was trying to recapture a former magic and it just doesn't work. The start of HARDLY WORKING has clips from previous Lewis movies as if he was trying to show people how funny he was at one time. Sadly there are very few laughs here and in the end it's quite forgettable and rather sad.,