Director Michael Apted, whose eclectic CV includes Gorillas in the Mist and Coal Miner's Daughter, must have been having a bad day when he agreed to direct this unamusing star vehicle for Richard Pryor. Pryor, an influential and imaginative comedian during the 1970s and early 1980s, falls down here, playing a hustler who feigns insanity to stay out of prison and, after a series of ludicrous misadventures, ends up running the mental institution into which he has been committed. Yes, it's that ridiculous.

Eddie is a con artist. When he's framed and comes before a judge, he hopes to get off the hook by claiming insanity—but instead ends up in a hospital for a mental assessment. That night, a storm causes a power failure and, in the ensuing chaos, Eddie is mistaken for a doctor and suddenly finds himself in charge of the hospital.