Last of the Red Hot Lovers

Rating:
Summary: Laugh out loud funny!
Review: I think Alan Arkin is a master at what seems to be unintentional humor. He is very funny in this movie

Rating:
Summary: Very funny film
Review: I'm not going to summarize the film because others already have. But I do want to rescue Last of the Red Hot Lovers (LRHL) from previous comment about this being a tepid, so-so movie. My wife and I have watched this movie on VHS off and on for years and it never fails to get us rolling. I love Neil Simon and this is one my favorite movies of his plays. Neil Simon is wonderful at drawing out the rediculous in common, real-life experiences, and the New York City sacastic Jewish humor is priceless.

Who can forget Barney Cashman's mid-life crisis prayers: "....I look today older than yesterday. A few years and it'll all be over. Please God, don't let it be over. Let something terrific happen today. Anything, just as long as it's something, Amen!" Or when cynical, sated, chains-smoking Elaine Navazio (Sally Kellerman) arrives in Cashman's mother's squeeky-clean, paper-thin walls, nothing-can-appear-out-of-place-when-we're-done apartment for a secret liason with Barney. Elaine: Cough...hack...hew...cough......cough....hew..hew....cough...hack...cough....Do you have a cigarette? Barney: A cigarette? My God, wouldn't you rather have some water? Elaine: I can't smoke water.

The scene when Barney smokes pot with the Paula Pentiss character made me choke laughing. "I can't feel my heart. What the hell happen to my heart!"

And fish-restaurant owner Cashman habitually smelling and trying to douse the fish smell from his fingers: Elaine: Again with the fingers. That's the second time you smelled you fingers since I been here. Barney: No, no, I was just cheking my watch. Elaine: Oh, is it time to smell your fingers?

Forget that the movie may not be a perfect adaptation of the play. Most people who see movies never read the written material they're based on anyway. This movie is funny and has more hilarious, memorable one-liners than any other movie I can think of (The Princess Bride is right up there). I've owned LRHL in VHS for years and look forward to getting it on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: THE GENIUS OF ALAN ARKIN
Review: NOT FOR EVERYONE, BUT A MUST FOR ALAN ARKIN ENTHUSIASTS AND THOSE WITH A LUST FOR DRY HUMOR AND WIT. ALAN ARKIN GOING THROUGH A MID LIFE CRISIS IS AS FUNNY AS IT GETS. A SCENE WITH HIM AND PAULA PRENTIS SMOKING POT IS LTERALLY LAUGH OUT LOUD FUNNY.

Rating:
Summary: Film-Version of Neil Simon Stage Classic
Review: The fast-paced, witty script follows Neil Simon's stage play almost verbatim. Countless funny lines and come-backs make this a very entertaining comedy. Mid-life crisis seems to hit almost every character. Having an affair was the "in" thing, portrayed as a survival necessity. The "loverboy" is quite nervous about cheating on his wife of 22 years (with whom he has 3 children). Opportunities seem plentiful. Saying prayers for guidance is like a fettish to this man.

Somehow the production of ths 1970s NYC setting and action feel like a French or Italian comedy. There definitely is a European flavor (of the 70s). The cover of the DVD promises a letterbox format, yet delivers only a VERY squeezed TV version. There are no added features whatsoever. Those are the only disappointments in an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable comedy. Fans of Neil Simon's work will have a great time.****

Rating:
Summary: tepid
Review: This film based on Neil Simon's Broadway hit has a terrible reputation, but I've seen worse adaptations of stage plays. Its structure is similar to Simon's Plaza Suite where 1 actor encounters 3 different women. This time the actor is Alan Arkin, who is experiencing a middle age crisis and has an adolescent desire to have sex with a woman other than his wife. Simon is best at observing the ridiculousness of people in stressful situations, so we don't have high hopes for Arkin's chances. In the first encounter, Arkin is overshadowed by Sally Kellerman, here using unexpected (for her) Jewish intonation. She is dressed to recall Barbra Streisand's Doris from The Owl and the Pussycat, with large sunglasses and a fur coat. Kellerman gives the best performance of the three women, since her role is probably the better written, and allows her to keep her dignity. Simon also gives her character all the jokes about how Arkin is using his mother's apartment as a meeting place, a joke which extends to the second encounter where Arkin reacts to the woman's careless use of the contents. Simon wants us to see Arkin's fantasy as arrested development, but I think he also thinks we should still empathise with the man. As the second woman, Paula Prentiss sings well but overdoes her kooky manic act, though ironically it allows Arkin to be his best. He is very funny when he smokes pot with Prentiss, though Simon doesn't know how to end the scene. In the third encounter, Renee Taylor begins well with her brand of stylised hysteria and Arkin has an experienced agenda. But soon her depression becomes tiresome, and he chasing her around the room unfunny. The film opens each episode with a subjective camera with Arkin narration and the preamble before the encounters is self-consciously theatre. Also the woman are all strangely dressed unflatteringly - Kellerman's dress emphasises her bosom, Prentiss' hotpants her long legs, and Taylor's hairstyle prefigures her Ma on The Nanny. The film also presents Arkin's wife in a party scene that pre-empts the Taylor encounter, which throws the tone since the humour relies upon her being an abstraction. Once the wife becomes real, the intended comedy becomes drama, but thankfully Simon caps Arkin's predicament with a tart epilogue.