edwagreen For the first time ever, I got to hear from Peter Sellers sounded like with his real voice. He plays the part of a conventional 35 year old Jewish attorney engaged to his secretary. All this changes rapidly when he meets his hippie brother's girlfriend and falls for her, leaving his bride-to-be at the altar.The film was a definite triumph for Jo Van Fleet. In my wildest imagination, I never thought that she could do such a fantastic job as his mother in a comical role. She throws out Jewish expressions and must have remembered her vivid portrayal 13 years before as Susan Hayward's mother in "I'll Cry Tomorrow."The picture is basically a story of the wild 1960s with just about everything going.

jaster-7 This one of these movies I remember when it came out but I was too young to see it at the time, yet I remember a touch of controversy around it. As I've now just seen it today (finally!), I realize now controversy was due to the free use of drugs in reference and in use in this movie. It's a broad yet clever story of a man learning to feel, and all the trouble that gets him into. Sellers is great and so is Van Fleet as his mom - her laugh is so infectious when they all inadvertently get stoned on pot brownies, from an Alice B. Toklas recipe - hilarious. (Is that where the term 'toke' comes from?) Someone mentioned this movie is a time-capsule, and I couldn't agree more – it truly is a commentary of social upheaval focusing on a specific time when Stein and Toklas were on the scene, and how this uptight Jewish lawyer gets caught up in the hippy movement and love is everywhere. Even though a parody and farcical, I enjoyed some unexpected laughs at the clever dialog - so many great quotes in this movies! Like when entering into the throes of passion with the always beaming, blissed out Nancy, "Kiss my face…kiss my lips…kiss my ANKH!" – it's classic Peter Sellers comedy. (I'm not sure if that's a spoiler?) The film is highly concerned with marijuana and its use, and I found it refreshing and so much more open than what attitudes and views seem to be now – I don't think you could see a film like this now coming out of Hollywood. The wonderful relish with which they enjoy the brownies is priceless! Anyway I think this movie is all about the chaos of feelings – when we open up to them - wow! They can feel like a tidal wave of wonder, but invariably wreck havoc with the secure and stable foundations of your life – and no matter how you try and put them back in the box, once you've tasted freedom like that, there's no going back.

wellsortof I don't feel like I can rate this movie much higher than 7, although I did rather enjoy it. It began slow, but once Sellers meets his female match in Nancy's character, things start to move. I was personally a fan of all the "inadvertent" troubles Sellers's character kept getting into once he picked up the new psychedelic car, and how he was getting beaten down by all of the things in his own life. I'm sure that, at the time, the scene with the "groovy" brownies was quite new and perhaps had not been seen at all on TV or in movies, but it seems pretty predictable now (particularly with its use in "That 70s Show" and Never Been Kissed). The best thing about it is that it seems to provide a pretty good snapshot of the late 60s, from which my own remembrances of the era are in the form of not being born until 7 years after this movie was made.

caspian1978 Peter Seller's (modern) comedy is set in early 70's California. In many ways, this coming of age comedy is the story of Peter Sellers. Leaving his wife for the single life and "swinging" with several women until marrying his 5th or 6th wife, Sellers kept moving, searching for something else. Much like the final scene, Sellers is seen alone running after the unknown as he continues to find himself. While this is a comedy, the movie has many (hidden) dramas among the mix of laughter and jokes. Also, the movie uses many stereotypes to get laughs. Not that PC for today's audience, it is still funny. Having 10 Mexicans in 1 car, having the Jewish family ask how much the bumper cost at the garage, the hippies preaching peace and the yuppies talking about sex all get laughs in this Peter Sellers comedy.