Divorced dad finds out he has an incurable disease; he decides to kill himself before his illness lands him in a hospital ward. What with girlfriend Sally Field acting like a ditz, Father Robby Benson annoyingly clicking his priest's collar against his teeth, mental patient Dom DeLuise overacting like crazy and normally-sane Joanne Woodard playing a nagging harpy, it's no wonder Burt Reynolds wants to die. Trouble is, he directed this sloppy black comedy, which veers wildly from morbid jokes and slapstick to curious seriousness. Kristy McNichol emerges unscathed playing Burt's trusting daughter, though the rest get stuck portraying caricatures, and the handling makes them ugly and pushy. "The End" is tiresomely ego-driven and incompetent. It made me itch. ** from ****
Review of The End
