A few genuinely funny moments don't make up for a comedy where the main plot is overshadowed by the unappealing sexual hijinks of its leading man (Ryan O'Neal) and the unappealing gangster's moll (Mariangela Melato), nearly losing me in the predictable scene where her sexually uninterested criminal lover Richard Kiel arrives while she's trying to seduce O'Neal. The main plot deals with O'Neal's dad (Jack Warden) desperately trying to get into the fashion world and succeeding with the now seemingly tame backless jeans, a big scandal now, but very controversial in the early 80's.
Basically playing the same character he did in "What's Up Doc", O'Neal shows with a bland leading lady that comedy is not his forte, and Melato looks like Shelley Duvall's heavily accented sister. Kiel, without his metal teeth, looks like an extremely tall Robert Goulet. He's at least funny, but it's Warden and the group of eccentric older women he hangs around (particularly Jessica James) who get the laughs. The praise has to go to him, not screenwriter/director Andrew Bergman who has written much better comedies. With a very pretentious accent, Fred Gwynne manages to get laughs as well, basically skewering the type of uptight, unfunny pretentious ivy league professors he's parodying. A throwback to old fashioned screwball comedy that seems to be focused on one joke that doesn't get the laughs lingering.
Basically playing the same character he did in "What's Up Doc", O'Neal shows with a bland leading lady that comedy is not his forte, and Melato looks like Shelley Duvall's heavily accented sister. Kiel, without his metal teeth, looks like an extremely tall Robert Goulet. He's at least funny, but it's Warden and the group of eccentric older women he hangs around (particularly Jessica James) who get the laughs. The praise has to go to him, not screenwriter/director Andrew Bergman who has written much better comedies. With a very pretentious accent, Fred Gwynne manages to get laughs as well, basically skewering the type of uptight, unfunny pretentious ivy league professors he's parodying. A throwback to old fashioned screwball comedy that seems to be focused on one joke that doesn't get the laughs lingering.