At Christmas time, Bill Firpo (Nicolas Cage), a straight-laced New York restaurant manager, gets an unpleasant Christmas gift. His brothers Dave (Jon Lovitz) and Alvin (Dana Carvey) are paroled early due to overcrowding and placed in Bill's custody.This film has a bad reputation. Maybe it deserves it. Jon Lovitz has claimed the cast hated making the picture, and the director (George Gallo) was so inept that Nicolas Cage had to step in for much of the picture. There is also the annoying voice Dana Carvey chose to use.Perhaps the biggest misstep is the romance angle. As wonderful as Madchen Amick is, and as great as it is to see her in more things, there was no reason to make her the film's romantic interest. This is a comedy, and hey feel the need to throw in a forced union between a bank robber and mobster's daughter who barely even meet? The general zany comedy is good, though, and one suspects if the script had been handled a little differently, a few things tweaked, this might have been a real winner.

I'm really not sure why people don't find this movie universally hilarious but perhaps i'm just a sucker for a bunch of losers finally coming around to doing the right thing kind of movie. With Nicolas Cage portraying 'the smart and good brother' doing everything he can to keep himself on the straight and narrow and also taking on the older brother mantle of trying to keep his younger brothers recently paroled for overcrowding and released to Cage's custody, the gleefully ne'er-do-well brothers portrayed by Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey, it is Cage's duty to keep these two on the straight and narrow as well. With Carvey's brother a helpless kleptomaniac and Lovitz' brother a semi-smooth talking schmuck who can always talk himself (and occasionally others) into anything ... and so they eventually, with the help of their 'sainted' mother (perfectly portrayed by Florence Stanley), talk Cage into breaking their parole, leaving the state to visit another con's estranged daughter. The purpose of the trip is really to rob a small town bank which, on a particular day, holds a Fort Knox like sum of cash.And so the story is set and while many people might guess the general path the film takes, it is a joyful and hilarious ride through their travails and eventual redemption in a town called Paradise. A tight and smooth-running script keeps the film humming along at a fine pace and ranks among my top ten xmas films ... though of course that might not include the standard films most would include ... i'm also a big fan of 'silent night, deadly night' ... so take it for what it's worth ... but this is still a very funny movie despite many of the negative reviews and the sub 6 star rating.

I think many would like this movie for at least three reasons.1. It's HILARIOUS! With Cage, Lovitz and Carvey - how could it not be?2.It's not just "a movie set at Christmas," it really is a Christmas movie! *3. It evokes another of my favorite films, Groundhog Day, for several reasons... starting with the Pennsylvania small-town setting and the winter shots, up to and including the recurring denouement... see if you don't agree.* My test as to whether it's really "a Christmas movie"": would the story work as well if set at any other time of year? In the case of this movie, the answer is no. For comparison, think about It's a Wonderful Life... in that movie, Clarence the angel could have appeared to George Bailey in middle of a July heat wave... all of the plot events could have been moved into the summer, for that matter... but, had that been done, would it be the same film? I think you'd agree that it wouldn't... and so it is with Trapped in Paradise. The story line needs a Christmas setting, and it is Christmas which, in return, gives this film charm above and beyond its broadly-delivered humor.

Nicholas Cage, Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey are "Trapped in Paradise" in this 1994 film also starring Madchen Amick, Donald Moffat and Florence Stanley. Cage plays Bill Firpo, a man desperately trying to distance himself from his jailbird brothers Dave and Alvin (Lovitz and Carvey) and take the high road; unfortunately, overcrowding in the prisons causes the boys to be released early. One of them heard a great story in prison about a bank ripe for the picking. It's too good to pass up, so the three head for Paradise, Pennsylvania to rob the bank, only to find that once they have, they can't get out of town due to the overwhelming hospitality of the townspeople.This film is very funny, and I admit to loving Nicholas Cage in comedy. It always comes from a real place, making the comedy even funnier. His reactions to his brothers are hilarious. As he puts it, "In the Firpo family, the man with half a brain is king." Florence Stanley is a riot as the boys' mother and is given some great lines like, "You guys are dumber than a box of hair." Lovitz and Carvey are goofy; Carvey's Alvin is a kleptomaniac who doesn't seem completely there, and Lovitz' Dave is a conniver with a mind that goes right to criminal intent at all times. The three make quite a trio.Good fun. It's not War and Peace, its just light entertainment with some good performances, a funny premise, and some great dialogue. For some reason, it's often hard to get all three.