Stranded Stars

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

She can be tough. She can be vulnerable. Whoopi Goldberg is a bundle of funny, appealing characters in search of an author. Bob Goldthwait is a stand- up comic of surreal mien who spits out his wit in the strangulated voice of an idiot savant after a go at the glue bottle. Both of these gifted comics are trapped in Hugh Wilson's Burglar, an affable movie that is all plot and no common sense.

Bernice (Goldberg) is out on parole, managing a bookshop and trying to go straight. Blackmail propels her into a little job of larceny that turns out to be a setup for a murder rap and for yet another car chase around the hilly streets of San Francisco. The narrative is so busy, and Goldberg and Goldthwait (as her best friend) have so many boring obligations to its improbabilities, that the movie seems an unnecessary intrusion on its leading players.

The movie works best when it labors least, when it allows its stars to sing their comic arias a cappella. Finally one wonders if it would not have been more fun to skip all the labored knockabout and let the talented pair join forces for a simple concert film. R.S.