Criminally Overlooked 90s Comedy Is The Ultimate Life Reset For An Iconic Sitcom Star

By Robert Scucci
| Updated 8 seconds ago

Faking your own death in order to start a new life is complicated by the fact that there aren’t any real resources out there to educate yourself on the process. Think about it. If somebody disappeared without a trace successfully, they’re not going to host an AMA on Reddit explaining how they did it because that would leave a digital footprint and defeat the entire purpose. George Wendt’s (or, Norm from Cheers) Warren Kooey in 1994’s Hostage for a Day finds himself in such a predicament, but instead comes up with an insane plan to kidnap himself so he can escape his unfulfilling marriage, move to Alaska, and finally live life on his own terms.

Complications arise along the way in this Canadian made-for-TV movie, which also happens to be John Candy’s first and only directorial effort, released posthumously one month after his death. As a low-budget TV feature, Hostage for a Day leaves a lot to be desired, but its premise and acting talent carry it further than its 15 percent audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes would lead you to believe. It won’t change your life by any stretch of the imagination, but if you want to see one of the dumbest life escape plans imaginable pushed into increasingly absurd territory, it’s a solid, low-stakes watch with a healthy amount of genuine laugh-out-loud moments.

Don’t Let The Promo Material Fool You

John Candy is given top billing in the promotional material for Hostage for a Day, but he’s only seen in a couple of scenes since most of his work here was done behind the camera instead of in front of it. The real star of the show is Warren Kooey, our hapless, hopeless, middle-aged protagonist who feels completely trapped in an unfulfilling life. Warren works as a clerk at his father-in-law V.D.’s (John Vernon) copy shop, and as a result has to bend to his will at the drop of a hat.

Warren experiences similar treatment from his wholly unsatisfied stay-at-home wife, Elizabeth (Robin Duke), who uses her father’s influence to get whatever she wants on the home front, including exorbitant home renovations from world-renowned handyman Hondo (Currie Graham). It’s clear that Elizabeth is having an affair with Hondo, as he’s always gutting Warren’s property under the guise of a professional working relationship. Warren, being the pushover that he is, just lets it happen.

After confronting his existential dread by talking to his own reflection on various flat, shiny surfaces, Warren finally hits his breaking point when he learns that Elizabeth has stolen $40,000 from his credit union account in order to fund her illicit affair with Hondo. Around this same time, Warren has a welcome run-in with his old flame, Diane St. Clair (Christopher Anne Templeton), with whom he once made elaborate plans to move to Alaska and live off the fat of the land.

With no money to his name and desperate to start fresh, Warren decides to act on his midlife crisis in the most extreme way possible. He straps road flares and an alarm clock to his chest, tells Elizabeth that he’s been kidnapped by Russians, calls the SWAT team, and demands a ransom for the exact amount of money that was stolen from him.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Hostage for a Day earns its namesake when the criminally underfunded SWAT team shows up, woefully unprepared to handle the situation. To make matters worse, Russian terrorist Yuri Petrovich (John Candy) conveniently breaks into the Kooey residence and actually holds Warren hostage for real. As you’d expect, Warren, who was only trying to orchestrate an elaborate ruse in order to start a new life, suddenly has to deal with genuine danger as his house gets pumped full of lead and he digs himself deeper into his self-kidnapping plot than he ever intended.

While you do have to settle for mid-90s made-for-TV production values, Hostage for a Day still has its moments, even if it ultimately plays like a middle-of-the-road comedy of errors. The main issue I had with the movie, and the thing that took me out of it the most, was how conveniently unlikable every single person in the film is. You can’t blame Warren Kooey for wanting out when his wife is a cold-hearted scorpion woman who robs him of his solitude while offering zero companionship. She’s also clearly testing out the new bedroom with Hondo faster than you can say, “Can I pour you a beer, Mr. Peterson?”

In other words, Warren is too likable, everybody else sucks, and it’s a little too convenient as a setup. I personally would have found it funnier if Warren’s life was simply average and he took these extreme measures because he was blowing everything else out of proportion. What we get instead is still funny, but you can only escalate a ridiculous setup so much before it starts to lose its luster. 

Hostage for a Day is streaming for free on Tubi.