A legend goes a s far as pretending that "kiss me stupid" is subpar.As far as Wilder comedies are concerned it's only one notch or two under the two Monroe ones and probably the underrated "avanti",and probably superior to "apartment" "one two three" or "stalag 17" Reductio ad absurdum that love between husband and wife is laudable,playing with every cliché you can think of and creating absolutely stunning scenes out of them.
This is a movie one can only dream of ,nowadays ,when comedies are vulgar,not funny at all and gamble on audience's stupidity (!)Once again,once more ,Wilder 's screenplay is exciting,witty,now delirious-the parrot watching the telly-,now almost dramatic -the scene when Walston throws a loaded Martin out of his home,this admirable sequence when Novak thinks that it would be great to be a housewife .
Wilder plays with his characters ,no one is in the right place,no one acts as if he's supposed to do,and,that's the miracle,everything will turn right.Invention is everywhere ,in every scene,in every line of dialogue,even in these silly songs the hero and his pal want Dean Martin to sing (check the words:" when I'm without you,I'm a Yorkshire pudding without a roast beef(sic))
Wilder was a director who used to dare ,provocation was his forte :from the name of the one-horse town (Climax) to the holier-than-thou woman who set up a petition against the "belly button" ,this den of iniquity. And however,in the end ,his movie is more "moral" than one hundred of these sanitized contemporary comedies .As I said, reductio ad absurdum. God bless Billy Wilder for the fun he gave to the world!
This is a movie one can only dream of ,nowadays ,when comedies are vulgar,not funny at all and gamble on audience's stupidity (!)Once again,once more ,Wilder 's screenplay is exciting,witty,now delirious-the parrot watching the telly-,now almost dramatic -the scene when Walston throws a loaded Martin out of his home,this admirable sequence when Novak thinks that it would be great to be a housewife .
Wilder plays with his characters ,no one is in the right place,no one acts as if he's supposed to do,and,that's the miracle,everything will turn right.Invention is everywhere ,in every scene,in every line of dialogue,even in these silly songs the hero and his pal want Dean Martin to sing (check the words:" when I'm without you,I'm a Yorkshire pudding without a roast beef(sic))
Wilder was a director who used to dare ,provocation was his forte :from the name of the one-horse town (Climax) to the holier-than-thou woman who set up a petition against the "belly button" ,this den of iniquity. And however,in the end ,his movie is more "moral" than one hundred of these sanitized contemporary comedies .As I said, reductio ad absurdum. God bless Billy Wilder for the fun he gave to the world!