Film

Sunburn

Name: Sunburn
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Released: 1979
Cast: Farrah Fawcett, Charles Grodin, Art Carney, Joan Collins, William Daniels

Crime

A breezy 1979 crime caper that drops a model, a private eye, and an insurance investigator into Acapulco for a murder case. It's all sunny beaches, snappy dialogue, and the kind of globe-trotting intrigue that trades sophistication for charm. Made for viewers who enjoy their mysteries light, their scenery gorgeous, and their resolutions tidy.

TMDb rating

2.5

If you liked this

The Pink Panther1963

A stylish, witty caper with a bumbling detective and exotic locations. Like Sunburn, it prioritizes laughs and charm over credible detective work, with a talented ensemble having obvious fun.

But The humour leans toward slapstick and dated references; if you prefer mysteries with actual stakes, this trades plot logic for gags.

Charade1963

Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in Paris, caught in a twisty plot involving money, danger, and flirtation. Sunburn has the same DNA: beautiful people, exotic settings, and a tone that never lets the stakes get heavy.

But It requires real romantic chemistry to work, and the plot hinges on a final twist that some find contrived rather than clever.

The Spy Who Loved Me1977

A Bond film that embraces glamour, humour, and exotic locales over realism. Like Sunburn, it's thoroughly seventies in sensibility—sun-baked, sexy, and never once serious.

But If you want espionage treated as genuine tradecraft, Roger Moore's quips and the cartoonish villains will feel like they're mocking the genre.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Sunburn

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Midnight Run1988

Grodin's gift for exasperated precision. In Sunburn he's reliable. In Midnight Run he becomes the whole film. See what he can do when the script is tighter.

Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin (Sunburn's co-star) on a cross-country road movie that's actually funny. Grodin is the foil again, but here the banter is sharper and the action has real momentum without forgetting the comedy.

But It's a buddy film that doesn't deconstruct the formula—it just executes it. If you want something as light as Sunburn, this might feel like it's trying slightly too hard.

Foul Play1978

Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn stumble through a murder plot in San Francisco. It shares Sunburn's lightness of touch and faith that likeable actors are more important than plausible plotting.

But Chase's comedy style hasn't aged well for everyone, and the mystery plot is genuinely nonsensical if you pay close attention.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid1982

Steve Martin as a noir detective, shot in black and white but played for laughs. A clever deconstruction of the detective genre that Sunburn implicitly loves without quite deconstructing it.

But The joke—that noir conventions are inherently ridiculous—wears thin if you don't find the premise funny on arrival.

Arabesque1966

Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren in a globe-trotting espionage romp with Acapulco's spiritual ancestors: Istanbul, Paris, and implausible danger. Sunburn is a seventies revision of exactly this template.

But The plot is bewilderingly convoluted, and the film moves so fast to hit the next location it sometimes forgets what it's about.

The Asphalt Jungle1950

The heist-crime template that shaped decades of movies. Unlike Sunburn, it treats its criminals seriously, but you'll see where the cheerful caper structure comes from when stripped of irony.

But It's noir—bleak, methodical, utterly humourless. The tonal distance from Sunburn might make you appreciate the latter, or convince you this is the superior version.

Smokey and the Bandit1977

Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in a cross-country caper that, like Sunburn, trusts that watching beautiful people on adventures in gorgeous locations is enough. Pure seventies transport.

But The plot is thin, the action ungainly, and if you find the good-ol'-boy aesthetic grating, there's nothing here to redeem it.

The Kennel Murder Case1933

An early, breezily plotted mystery where the detective is charming enough that you don't mind the improbabilities. Sunburn feels like an update of this era's mystery-as-entertainment philosophy.

But It's seventy minutes of setup for a solution that doesn't quite land, and the pacing is oriented to 1933 audiences, which means patience is required.

Tropical Malady2004

Both use tropical settings and beautiful cinematography as the primary subject. Where Sunburn treats paradise as a stage for adventure, Tropical Malady asks what paradise is concealing—the same landscape seen from inside versus outside the dream.

A Thai film that begins as a romantic mystery in the jungle and becomes something haunted and ancient. Sunburn's sunshine and surface charm drop away to reveal the darkness underneath—literally the same location and mood inverted.

But It's slow, elliptical, and ends as a ghost story. If you wanted Sunburn's plot resolution and happy ending, this offers obliquity and dread instead. It's also in Thai with subtitles.