DELIRIOUS (1991) **1/2 John Candy is a soap opera writer who hits his head and awakens as a character in his own story. As anyone who knows, understands, and still enjoys American soaps will immediate recognize: this is America's self-righteous response to Ingmar Bergman, Ingrid Bergman, and especially all of those Olympic skiers named Ingmar and Ingrid. Also doubles as a Cartesian meditation and vigorous self-examination on the omnipotence of writing. If I could write it, I'd put my wife center screen in every shot, and everyone would be amazed and how much she loves me and how happy I make her. But since they can just come over to my house and see all that, there's no reason to make a show out of it. But since we'll be moving the show to Heaven in another 75 years or so, maybe I should write it after all, so everyone can enjoy it here. I'll do that later, I guess, when there's even more material. Until then, I guess if you want to you can settle for this film: Emma Sands and David Rasche and Mariel Hemingway and Dylan Baker are quite believable as soap actors in a most excellent soap script, and Robert Wagner is imminently believable as Robert Wagner.
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