ksf-2 Love Elaine May! She wrote this odd one from 1972. So many big names in here. Lenny ( Charles Grodin) and Lila (Jeannie Berlin... Elaine's daughter) get married right at the beginning, and it all falls apart from there. Did you notice Doris Roberts as one of the wedding guests? She had JUST played a pretty big role in May's big hit "New Leaf". The happy couple bicker the first night of the honeymoon, which is normal, but then things take a turn for the worse. The "other woman" is Cybill Shepherd, whose parentals are Eddie Albert (Oliver!) and Audra Lindley (Mrs. Roper!) What a big, plastic, beach bucket of stars. Eddie Albert had been in the movies for years, but this was an early role for most of the rest of the cast. Turner Classics has this listed as a "COMEDY", but its a pretty serious drama.Apparently Neil Simon worked on the screenplay, but you won't find the kind of humor that he put into "Seems Like Old Times" or "Murder by Death". Well done, but it definitely should NOT be listed as a comedy.

Jo Doe This is truly an amazing movie, comic and tragic at the same time. How masterful the screenplay, the scenes, the characters. One actually cannot even predict how the movie is going to end until the very last scene. The main character played by brilliant Charles Grodin is the most intriguing and interesting character I have ever seen in the movies. One is not sure whether to love or hate this guy. He does the most despicable things and yet somehow is likable all through the movie. I actually did not realize he was just a masterful liar until 10 min before the end as he is quoting that morning s newspapers as something he has come up with on his own...or when he praises the food using some nonsense exaggerated compliments, or when he talks to people about his future business plans and fascination with "soil and going back to basics" only to end up talking about his admiration for "insurance business" 5 minutes later. I think he manages to deceive everyone because he is first of all deceived and confused himself. He is a man of contradiction, seemingly positive, determined and knowing what he wants only to discover a confused and unsatisfied, lost in every sense of the word, sad person. I think the character is actually developing and changing in front of our eyes until we discover in the last scene a very different Lenny from the one we were expecting to find. Truly a gem of the cinematography. Well worth watching! I found it on youtube...:) full movie. Enjoy!

moonspinner55 Charles Grodin plays a Jewish New Yorker who takes his earthy new bride to Miami for their honeymoon, but becomes increasingly disillusioned with her on the trip--most especially because of a flirty, leggy blonde from Minnesota whom he meets on the beach. With Neil Simon writing this screenplay, one is almost instantly aware not of the class issue (it doesn't matter to Simon who has more money than who) but of the Jewish angle. Simon makes the bride gross and vulgar, and Jeannie Berlin has been encouraged to play these non-attributes to the hilt, while Cybill Shepherd's Protestant sex-goddess is the epitome of sarcastic poise. Simon wins points against the new wife by playing up her Jewishness in all its stereotypical brashness; it's as if the volume is up too loud. "The Heartbreak Kid" has many things going for it--the excellent performances and some very humorous asides to name two--but the intentional lewdness behind Grodin's marital predicament, and the queasy way he ingratiates himself into Shepherd's family, isn't so much hilarious as it is cringe-inducing. Shepherd's no-nonsense father, wonderfully played in an I've-seen-everything-now way by Eddie Albert, reacts accordingly to Grodin's new proposals with anger and confusion, and in these instances the film touches on something much deeper than the modern Jewish man's internal struggle. Unfortunately, this is mainly what Simon has on his plate, and it wears the audience down--and seems very dated now, anyway. Elaine May's direction is fashionably ragged and somewhat detached, and her ending is thoughtful (if, in retrospect, uneventful). The story certainly needed a modern tweaking, as this version is just a little bit undernourished (more mean-spirited than funny), however a 2007 remake fared even worse. **1/2 from ****

naglec-1 An artful mixture of deft, laugh-out-loud comedy, interspersed with touching poignant moments, makes this film special and unforgettable. Elaine May's direction was delicate yet purposeful, allowing for the superb development of characters ( in particular Eddie Albert's curmudgeonly businessman/father) without impeding the flow of the plot.In this social portrayal of the Peter Principle, the glib, shallow Lenny somehow talks himself to dizzying social and economic heights all without the benefit of a pedigree or occupational skill set. Albert's father figure takes no time at all to see through all of this; but he is outnumbered by his wife and daughter who succumb to Lenny's charms. You can't help but feel this man's helpless pain in having to watch his lovely, impressionable daughter lured into a clearly doomed marriage.Cybil Shephard, Eddie Albert and Charles Grondin all turned in career performances. This show was one of those rare times when everything (directing, writing and acting) came together to create something greater than the sum of its parts - it's a real treasure.