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Super Sucker Review: As a writer, Jeff Daniels obviously did his homework for Super Sucker. He masterfully portrays the world of door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen, and finds just the right mixture of unctuous, desperate, and likable in Fred Barlow to make him a believable salesperson. For its first 20 minutes, the film works as a comedy of manners. Sadly the film takes too long to get to the big joke, that Barlow and his crew discover that their machine can be used as a sex toy and begin to sell it that way to housewives. While this is a funny set-up, the film is far too timid to play up the bawdier aspects of the screenplay. The best scene in the film involves Barlow and his wife lying together in bed. Late in the film he is pouring out all his self-doubt about what he has done to his wife, who ignores him because she is enjoying the product. That scene is the only one that strikes the right tone. The material is so outlandish that all of the characters need to be played realistically. Sadly almost every performance other than Daniels' feels pitched for the stage and not the screen. The mugging and yelling overwhelm the difficult balance the film needs to maintain to work. Like his first film, Escanaba in da Moonlight, Daniels shows he has a great understanding for people and the places they live and work, but he has trouble shaping an engaging story. Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

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