Night Shift: Gravely funny

Who wouldn't love a movie about two morgue employees who turn their workplace into your friendly neighborhood brothel? The genius script and the pairing of great actors propels the 1982 comedy "Night Shift" into immortality.\nHenry Winkler is Chuck Lumley, a timid morgue clerk assigned to the unpopular night shift with Bill Blazejowski (Michael Keaton in one of his greatest performances), an obnoxious man who dreams of one great idea for success. Chuck's situation takes a bizarre turn when his prostitute neighbor, Belinda (Shelley Long), complains about the loss of her pimp. Upon hearing this news, Bill suggests that he and Chuck become pimps and open the morgue at night as their brothel. The men would provide a safe haven for prostitutes where they could keep more of their earnings and have the protection of two men. Chuck gets talked into the idea against his better judgement, only to discover his own objections when Belinda resumes her old career.\nWinkler is fabulous as Chuck, a character who is the polar opposite of his Arthur Fonzarelli on "Happy Days." Timid, nervous and weak, his love for Belinda gives him the courage to follow his heart and his head. Long is good in her role as the prostitute with a heart of gold. Needing to make a good living, she helps the guys get other prostitutes. She is Chuck's strength and Bill's brains. \nThe true strength of the movie is Keaton's marvelous portrayal of Bill, a fast-talking, slow-thinking con artist concerned only with beautiful women and making a buck. Armed only with his wits and a tape recorder with which he stores all his success ideas, Keaton tries to make Chuck a man and ends up learning a little about himself. In his cinematic debut, Keaton provides most of the movie's hilarity, scheming and bumbling his way from morgue clerk to pimp to cabana boy. \nWith a well-written, quirky script and laughs to boot, "Night Shift" marks one of Ron Howard's first movies. Howard takes time to show the mean streets of New York in all their color and sets this incredible story in one of the worst places to work, the morgue. With a great cast that also includes Richard Belzer as a stern hit man and Kevin Costner as a frat boy, "Night Shift" is the perfect rental when you want to have a few laughs.