Spaghetti Loops
Coby (Antonio Cantafora) was a soldier but has now turned to playing exhibition pool, dazzling audiences with his impossible trick shots. But along with his friend, the impressively strong Len (Paul L. Smith), find themselves agreeing to investigate gun trafficking across the Mexican border in return for $50,000. The trouble all starts when they comes across a revolutionary new revolver.
Whilst one of my favourite movies is "Blazing Saddles" I am not a fan of western comedies as it is a combination which rarely works. But then there are the comedy spaghetti westerns and from the few I have watched they certainly amuse but more in an almost bad they're fun sort of way. That brings me to "Carambola" an entertaining western comedy but more because it is now cheesy rather than anything.
Right from the opening scene as we hear one of the most bouncy soundtracks going you know this is going to either amuse or grate due to it being dated and certainly not what you expect from a western. But it is not just the soundtrack which comically dates "Carambola" as we have the scenes which introduce us to Coby and Len especially the hilariously tacky pool trick shot scenes as Coby does things with a pool ball which break the laws of physics. The thing is that I don't know whether the originally intention was to just amuse or amuse in a cheesy sort of way which is what it does now. It is not just dated comedy as we also have sidekick comedy as Len is tired of being used by Coby but most of the comedy now comes across as dated and corny.
The thing about "Carambola" is that when it isn't fun in a dated sort of way it serves up minor moments of action, nothing remarkable about them in the slightest. But what that actually means is that the storyline surrounding the gun running ends up coming across as after thought and not a good one at that. In truth it doesn't take long for you stop concerning yourself with what is happening and just watch purely for the humour.
What this all boils down to is that for me "Carambola" is fun but rather than in the intended way it is now fun in a dated corny way which pushes it towards the realms of being good for being bad.
