Director: Elaine May
Year Released: 1971
Rating: 3.0
A playboy (Walter Matthau) who's run out of funding decides to marry an awkward botanist (Elaine May) for her fortune - he can't stand her, but is so used to his carefree, work-free lifestyle he's willing to put up with it. Famously butchered from May's original concept, it holds its own as light fare though there's no telling whether or not the black comedy (including several murders) in the longer version would have worked - I'm not sure what the original ending was supposed to be, but I hope it was better than the highly unlikely conclusion presented here, where Matthau becomes improbably sympathetic to May and the two walk off into the sunset. The awkwardness that was so crushing in The Heartbreak Kid isn't quite so affecting in this particular case and the story not nearly as universal or well-observed, though that does not mean numerous laugh-out-loud moments didn't survive the trimming, most of which come courtesy of Matthau's (somehow) endearing curmudgeon.
