Aug 11-17 Whoopi Goldberg Week: She’s become a corny tv lady these days, but let’s not forget that at her peak Whoopi was one of the funniest people alive.

Based on The Burglar in the Closet by Lawrence Block, this has Whoopi as former burglar Bernice “Bernie” Rhodenbarr, who is blackmailed into doing jobs for a corrupt cop named Ray Kirschman (G. W. Bailey, who is pretty much the go-to guy for bad cops after Police Academy). Then, Dr. Cynthia Sheldrake (Leslie Ann Warren) hires her to break into her ex-husband’s house, only for him to be killed. Another set-up, this time by her and her lawyer (James Handy).

With the help of her friend Carl Hefler (Bobcat Goldthwait), she investigates the case herself, learning that Christopher (Stephen Shellen), the dead husband, had plenty of girlfriends. Boyfriends, too, including the man who killed him, who ends up being — spoiler warning — the lawyer.

Is this a Giallo?

In an interview with Kevin Smith, writer Jeph Loeb — who went on to write comic books — said that this was going to star Bruce Willis with Whoopi Goldberg playing a neighbor. Bruce dropped out, and Goldberg moved into the lead. Not everyone was happy, as Roger Ebert said that Burglar was “… a witless, hapless exercise in the wrong way to package Goldberg. This is a woman who is original. Who is talented. Who has a special relationship with the motion picture comedy. It is criminal to put her into brain-damaged, assembly-line thrillers.”

Loeb wrote this along with Matthew Weisman and its director, Hugh Wilson, who created WKRP in Cincinnati and Frank’s Place in addition to directing the aforementioned Police Academy. He also made The First Wives Club and Dudley Do-Right. I bet Ebert loved that movie. Actually, he did! He gave it 2 1/2 stars out of 4 and wrote, “I did a little wincing the ninth or tenth time Dudley stepped on a loose plank and it slammed him in the head, but I enjoyed the film more than I expected to. It’s harmless, simple-minded, and has a couple of sequences better than Dudley really deserves.”