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Lookin' to get better

By Dave Kehr New York Times News Service

From Harold and Maude in 1971 to Being There in 1979, Hal Ashby's hits spanned a decade and helped to define it. But by the time Lookin' to Get Out! was released in 1982, his run was over, and the film — a lowlife comedy starring Jon Voight and Burt Young as a pair of happy-go-lucky gamblers — was recut by its studio, Lorimar, and given a minimal release.

In the course of researching a biography of Ashby, author Nick Dawson discovered a different version of Lookin' to Get Out! at the UCLA Film and Television Archive two years ago. Its origins are slightly mysterious, but Voight, also a writer and producer of the movie, has said that Ashby, who died in 1988, returned to the editing room after the film was released and substantially reconfigured it, altering many scenes and adding 15 minutes. Warner Home Video, which owns the Lorimar library, has now released the longer cut, and although it would be nice to report that a lost masterpiece has been reclaimed, it would be more accurate to say this mildly enjoyable, frequently cloying comedy now moves at a leisurely pace that is slightly more conducive to its charms.

Voight plays Alex Kovac, an irresponsible charmer. He lives in a swank New York apartment with his scruffy buddy Jerry Feldman (Young), whose role in life is to go "uh-oh" whenever Alex embarks on a harebrained scheme.

One of those schemes takes the lovable losers to Las Vegas, where they bluff their way into a luxury suite at the MGM Grand by pretending to know the casino's owner. Also on hand is Patti Warner (Ann-Margret), a former prostitute with whom Alex once had an affair. Now she's the girlfriend of the casino owner.

The actors act with visible relish while the situations congeal into the obvious and predictable. The sole surprise is provided by the young actress who briefly appears as Voight's estranged daughter, and this review won't spoil it.

It retails for $19.98.