Larry (Billy Crystal) is a writing teacher with notions of being a big-time author. Problem is, he can't get past, "the night was. . .", which suggests he really ought to find a better way to start his novel. He also can't get past the fact his ex-wife (Kate Mulgrew) is a best-selling writer, appearing on Oprah and fucking her gardener in his big house in Hawaii. "Her" as in Mulgrew's gardener, not that Mulgrew's character is fucking Oprah's gardener. Especially since Larry claims the book that made her a hit is actually his.
(The truth of that statement is never verified or debunked. I lean towards him being delusional, but also, "Hot Fire" is an incredibly stupid title for a book.)
Owen (Danny DeVito) is one of Larry's students. He lives with his mother (Anne Ramsey), who belittles Owen in every way possible, whenever she's not barking orders at him (and sometimes while she is.) Owen wants to be a writer, and he's more successful getting something down on paper than Larry, but the results are. . .woof.
Larry doesn't want much to do with Owen, but one night does explain some things he thinks Owen's attempts at murder mysteries are lacking. Like motives and alibis and names. Upon Larry's advice to watch Hitchcock movies for inspiration, and after hearing Larry very publicly deride his ex-wife as a "slut", Owen gets the idea that he and Larry can pull a Strangers on a Train. Owen flies to Hawaii to kill Larry's ex-wife, and expects Larry to reciprocate by killing Owen's mother.
The movie takes a while to get to the killing, since it's trying to establish how bitter Larry is, and how awkward and lonely Owen is. Plus, how much each of them blame a woman for their lot in life. Larry's got a fellow teacher (played by Kim Greist) that's interested in him, but he keeps ignoring her or getting distracted stewing over his ex's success.
It feels like a big chunk of the movie is Larry hiding at Owen's house (because Owen didn't warn him, Larry doesn't have an alibi) though it's probably only the last third or so. Owen's trying to get Larry to fulfill his half of the "criss-cross", and that's probably when the movie comes closest to being funny. Owen panics because Momma's mad and smacks Larry with a frying pan. Larry starts driving really fast in an attempt to scare Owen into agreeing to confess to the police and the car goes out of control.
The movie could probably have used more pitiful attempts on Momma's life, or Larry attempting to keep her from dying and getting hurt. Most of the time, Owen's too pitiable to laugh at, and Larry's anger is too steeped in resentment to be comical. Maybe if it were directed at himself, or if he was humiliated for how he acts when he lets the bitterness get to him, it would work better. Screaming in a public place about how his ex-wife is a slut when she isn't around and no one brought her up in the conversation but Larry is an opportunity to mock him or make him the butt of a joke, but the movie just kind of lets the thing hang there. I assume to set things up for when the cops question his students later, but you could still do that even if you use it to set up a gag initially.
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