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Alice nags Joe to ask his boss Mr. Batten (Willard Waterman) for a raise, but of course Joe can't summon up the nerve to ask. Joe overhears Batten rehearsing for his lodge's play and mistakenly concludes that Batton is the head of an international smuggling ring. So Joe phones the police, expecting to be rewarded for his efforts. Do you see where this is leading?
It's contrivance time again. Most of the humor in the "milquetoast asks his boss for a raise" routine has been worn to a nub by decades of unimaginative sitcoms that used the plot. (In fact, it was probably used at some point in the Hanna-Barbera sitcom/cartoon "The Jetsons," for which George O'Hanlon became most famous as the voice of milquetoast George Jetson.)
If anything, the movie is saved by the performances, especially that of Waterman, who adds some shadings to the stereotype of the tyrannical office boss. Probably the best scene in the movie is the byplay between O'Hanlon and Waterman, where Joe uses his (completely mistaken) knowledge of Batten's shady dealings to talk himself right out of the raise he's been wanting for the whole movie.
Our rating: 
(C) 2012, Steve Bailey.
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