Director: Blake Edwards
Year Released: 1979
Rating: 2.5
First hour purrs by without much notice - "cute, but meaningless" I kept thinking - and then the second passes by ... and still nothing. American Beauty must have been influenced by this (and Lolita), and the more I think of it, the more I realize Kevin Spacey may have been impersonating Dudley Moore. The conceit is certainly interesting - older man, suffering from "male menopause" has to come to terms with being over forty and on the downswing of life ("whoever said life starts after forty must have been lying through their teeth"). Edwards wants it to be Pink Panther-ish, with loads of sight gags (most of which merely charming ... never hilarious), but also deep and meaningful, and can't pull off both. Too much time is spent watching Dudley Moore do his Arthur shtick; the parts that really shine are when he's sober. Dramatically, it's weak (when Moore eventually does encounter the girl of his dreams - Bo Derek - it's hardly as memorable as when Spacey finds himself alone with Mena Suvari) but still, I can't help but be amused by Moore himself, whose down-and-out loner is sympathetic. Now if only he had a better movie around him....
