Stealing Harvard

How's this for a scenario? John (Lee), a nice but dim salesman, has finally saved up $30,000 for a down payment on a love nest with his fiancée Elaine (Mann). But wait up - now's the time for his adoring niece Noreen (Blanchard) to call in a long forgotten promise made when she was just a tot, to pick up the tab if she could get into college. Whaddyaknow, she's been accepted by Harvard! And expects $29,879, pronto! What to do, but call in his pal Duff (Greene), a madcap landscape gardener, to help nick the shortfall? Given dramaturgical fecundity of this calibre, you might think the resulting film would be a cinch for the comedy pantheon. Weird, then, how the cast play as if holding their breath for the pay cheque. The equus ex machina ending is almost as risible as Lee's bracketing voice-over attempt to peg this inanity to the great 'fate or free will' debate. Here's the question: to whom would you give the first slapping?