SimonJack This is a very good comedy about marriage, divorce and remarriage. Judy Holliday is Nina Tracey (nee Chapman), and Jack Lemmon is her husband Robert. Robert's best friend is Charlie Nelson, played by Jack Carson. They had been officers together in the Navy during WW II. Now they are both attorneys. Kim Novak is Janis, a girl in Charlie's black book whom he lines up with Robert after Robert and Nina get a divorce. The couple had been married eight years but boredom set in and they decided to divorce. This happens early in the film, so that the rest is a nice blend of comedy and romance as Robert and Nina try to adjust and get back in the dating game. Of course, that doesn't work for either one, and romance returns between them. The rest of the small cast are fine in their roles.This isn't a challenging film or top flight comedy with much witty dialog and situations. But, it's a pleasant story with some fun scenes that most should enjoy. The cast for "Phffft" is a first rate list of comedy actors in the 1950s. Jack Lemmon and Judy Holliday played in some of the best sophisticated comedies of the time, although Holliday's career was a short one. Jack Carson for many years was one of Hollywood's best supporting actors, especially for comedies. He co-starred here along with Kim Novak, in just her third film. Novak was very good and won a Golden Globe as most promising female newcomer. Holliday had won an Oscar for the comedy-drama "Born Yesterday" of 1950. She had two more smash comedies after that, including another hit with Lemmon in early 1954 – "It Should Happen to You." Holliday made only 14 movies in her career, but won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for film, and a Tony Award on Broadway. The Tony came in 1956 for the Broadway smash hit, "Bells Are Ringing." Holliday's last film was the movie version of "Bells Are Ringing" in 1960. It's a great comedy-musical with Dean Martin, Jean Stapleton and Eddie Foy Jr. Holliday died at age 43 in 1965 after a five year battle with breast cancer.Jack Lemmon was one of the great actors of the silver screen for nearly five decades. But, he got his start in TV in 1949 and was in several TV series through 1954. Those included dramas and comedies. "Phffft" was just his second movie and followed the smash hit earlier that year with Holliday, "It Should Happen to You." Of course, he would go on to win two Oscars and have six more nominations. He also won four Golden Globes for acting, with another 17 nominations. Lemmon won three BAFTA awards, with four more nominations; and he won two prime time Emmy awards with four more nominations. Lemmon was equally adept at drama and comedy. Some of the funniest and most endearing comedies he made were later in life and his career with long-time friend Walter Matthau.

jarrodmcdonald-1 Don't you love it when the title of a film has no vowels? And when it has an exclamation mark, too! It makes pronouncing it even more fun. Never mind spelling it correctly. (And I am usually a decent speller.)At any rate, Judy Holliday (whose last name I finally learned how to spell) enjoys an easy chemistry with costar Jack Lemmon in this film. She may very well be one of the zaniest comediennes ever. Her expressions, the way she uses her voice, and the mambo dance number where she contorts her body-- make watching this movie almost illegal. Add Kim Novak to the mix as a light-headed chick that Lemmon dates on the rebound from Holliday and you have a criminally good time.

moonspinner55 Awfully tired sex farce--made before sex farces actually got sexy--involving a New York lawyer and his inability to swing into the single life after divorcing his TV-writer wife. Written by the usually-reliable George Axelrod, film is beset with hammy humor and a lengthy flashback sequence foisted upon us in the first 12 minutes! Jack Lemmon (in only his second movie, both of which had him co-starring alongside Judy Holliday) is still rather green here, and he has trouble walking that fine line between tragedy and comedy. Holliday is forced, as is Jack Carson playing a wolf. Kim Novak, on the other hand, is perfect doing a Marilyn Monroe impersonation, brightening an otherwise stale bedroom opus. ** from ****

marcslope It's sort of like "The Awful Truth" as re-imagined by a '50s screenwriter with a smutty mind: Married couple divorce, try other partners, reunite. The high-school-boy-giggling-about-sex tone gets pretty heavy, but try to overlook that, because the film has so much to recommend it: New York location filming, early Kim Novak in a small part, and most of all, Judy Holliday and Jack Lemmon. Was there ever a greater romantic comedy team? She's hysterically funny and amazingly touching at the same time, and he partners her perfectly. They're even sexy together -- it's not a quality you usually associate with either actor. Watch the "mambo" sequence, with their shifting feelings about each other played out in dance: a classic scene.I'd rate these two over even Tracy and Hepburn. How sad that they made only two movies together.