Wise Guys may not have the visual excess that De Palma was once known for, but it does what so few of his past comedies did for me. It made me laugh. I watched this movie several times as a kid — blame Captain Lou Albano for being in it — but I always loved it, because Harry Valentini (Danny Devito) and Moe Dickstein (Joe Piscopo) may never rise to the head of Anthony Castelo’s (Dan Heyada) gang, it’s not always because they have a bad boss. The secret plan of the universe that Harry keeps following inevitably means that they are going to screw up any good luck that comes their way.

They may dream of opening deli, but for now, all they do are the worst of jobs: testing out bulletproof jackets, goldfish watching and starting the car to make sure it doesn’t explode. Then they get an actual assignment: go with Frank “The Fixer” Acavano (Albano) to the racetrack to make a bet. Harry thinks he can get in the boss’ good graces by switching his bet. Catelo’s horse wins $250,000. The boys didn’t bet on it. They’re tortured for an entire evening before they individually agree to kill one another. Neither can pull the trigger.

After seeing Harry’s cousin Marco (Ray Sharkey) get wasted, they freak out and steal Frank’s car and head down to Atlantic City, hoping that Harry’s Uncle Mike, who was once Castelo’s boss, can save them. Well, he’s dead. And now they probably will be by the end of the day, especially after they use Acavano’s credit cards to stay in a five star hotel owned by their old friend and now successful businessman Bobby DiLea (Harvey Keitel).

The twists and turns at the end of this are worthy of the biggest movies that De Palma made, as the two men — so often screw ups — must somehow get out of all this trouble and get away with it. Time has been kind to this, as years after I first saw it I just kept laughing.

Back when he was in the tag team The Sicilians with Tony Altamore, Lou Albano was warned by organized crime figures to cool the gimmick if he wanted to live. As an Italian American of great pride, this is where I remind you that there is no such proven Italian American crime family and we don’t mention any names for such organizations in print.