Movie · 1972 · Romance, Comedy · 1h 45m · PG · English
Curator score: 8.1/10 (31K ratings)
A hip, hot and sexy lesson in love.
Overview
Three days into his Miami honeymoon with needy and unsophisticated Lila, Lenny meets tall, blonde Kelly. This confirms his fear that he has made a serious mistake and he decides he wants to be with Kelly instead.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.1/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Letterboxd: 3.94/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 74
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
Elaine May
Production
20th Century Fox, Palomar Pictures International
Cast
Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Jeannie Berlin, Audra Lindley, Eddie Albert, Mitchell Jason, William Prince, Augusta Dabney, Doris Roberts, Jack Hausman, Erik Lee Preminger, Tim Browne, Jean Scoppa, Art Metrano, Marilyn Putnam, Joel Thingvall
Curator Review
Verdict
A savage, exquisitely uncomfortable comedy about male self-delusion, romantic cowardice, and the wreckage left behind by selfish desire. Elaine May turns a simple honeymoon premise into a razor-sharp character study that is funny, cruel, and painfully observant.
Best for
fans of dark relationship comedies
viewers who like cringe humor and social discomfort
people interested in sharp 1970s American filmmaking
fans of antiheroes who are both pathetic and fascinating
Skip if
you want a warm or sentimental romance
you dislike morally ugly protagonists
you prefer broad, fast-paced comedy
you need a movie that offers easy emotional catharsis
Overview
Elaine May’s film is one of the great comedies of embarrassment and bad faith. It starts with a premise that could have played as a light romantic farce, then steadily reveals itself as something much harsher: a study of a man who mistakes impulse for destiny and selfishness for honesty. Charles Grodin is perfectly cast as a smug, anxious opportunist whose every choice feels both ridiculous and inevitable.
Worth noting
What makes the movie endure is its control. May keeps the camera patient and unsparing, letting awkward pauses and social misfires do the damage. The humor is brutal because it is so precise; the film understands that the funniest thing about a liar is how often he believes his own story. Jeannie Berlin gives the movie its bruised, unforgettable emotional center, making the collateral damage feel real rather than merely comic.
Bottom line
It’s often discussed alongside The Graduate, but this is less a slick generational satire than a meaner, more intimate autopsy of male entitlement. The ending lands with a sting that lingers long after the jokes, and the whole film feels startlingly modern in the way it treats desire as confusion, performance, and self-sabotage all at once.
Top Letterboxd reviews
sydney (4★) · 1254 likes
men should watch this so they understand why women think they're dumb...
Karsten (5★) · 1093 likes
“you stay the hell out of minnesota you god damn newlywed”
demi adejuyigbe · 904 likes
Just fucking terrific. Charles Grodin has always been one of the best “put upon” actors I’ve ever known but this movie also shows what a joy it is to watch him be a undeservingly joyful schmuck. The pecan pie restaurant scene is truly outstanding. And Jeannie Berlin! God, she’s so good. (And very attractive! Not the point but I found all her “annoying” antics very charming! Call me Jeannie!!) Not at all shocked she got the Oscar nom, back when… more Just fucking terrific. Charles Grodin has always been one of the best “put upon” actors I’ve ever known but this movie also shows what a joy it is to watch him be a undeservingly joyful schmuck. The pecan pie restaurant scene is truly outstanding. And Jeannie Berlin! God, she’s so good. (And very attractive! Not the point but I found all her “annoying” antics very charming! Call me Jeannie!!) Not at all shocked she got the Oscar nom, back when… more
Sean Fennessey (5★) · 838 likes
On 35mm @ Los Feliz 3.
I haven’t seen it in more than 15 years. One of the most perfect expressions of discomfort and pointless striving ever communicated. Still hilarious, deep, and convincing; my hero Charles Grodin operating at a level of squirm and sweaty desperation and bullshittery that has hardly ever been matched. Fascinating stew of sensibilities swirling Bruce Jay Friedman and Neil Simon in a pot stirred by Elaine May, casting her daughter as the ultimate sacrificial lamb… more
Josh Lewis (4★) · 821 likes
One of the funniest, most pathetic and anxious depictions I've seen of male ego/self-destruction. Grodin has this perfectly-pitched awkward confidence of a man who can't help but treat every impulsive decision and interaction as an active sales pitch, and very impressed by May's stillness and control with the camera. Makes the neurotic pursuit of the overt delusion (that's obvious to everyone but him) even funnier when it occasionally lingers or pulls back from his POV and just breaks for a split second before we're thrust right back into his single-minded drive.