The Knack, and How to Get It
Director: Richard Lester
Year Released: 1965
Rating: 1.0
Over-directed tomfoolery erroneously considered comedy - I failed to find a single second amusing, and Lester's blind stabs at wackiness are too forced and gawky to click. Schoolteacher without 'the knack' at scoring with loads of women is tutored by a lascivious mod; when the latter wins over a slightly dimwitted brunette looking for a YWCA just to prove his superiority, the schoolteacher (with the help of a painter-friend who just showed up) turns to cock blocking. The picture is surprisingly empty in purpose, too: I'm assuming it's trying to subvert the 'slipping morals' in mid-sixties London by saying that you should stick to one girl and one girl only (none of that 'players just gotta play' rap-video stuff), but the movie never lets you get to know the characters: it's all quick cuts, backwards-editing tricks, visual gags and a massively bothersome voice-over track that has countless off-screen folk offering their random thoughts and opinions, often at the same exact time.
