Writer-director Paul Bartel co-stars with statuesque Mary Woronov as a prudish married couple in Los Angeles who hope to someday open their own quaint restaurant. Funding proves to be their sticking point, until one night a calamitous run-in with a wealthy swinger gives the pair a twisted new idea. Uneven dark farce with the germ of a great comic premise--and blessed with the talented leads to nearly pull it off successfully. Woronov, with her incredulous sexiness, gets possibly her best screen role here, and her sisterly rapport with Bartel is perfect within this context. It's a very slight movie however, with small, quirky laughs sharing space with frantic gags and dumb jokes. Bartel (as a filmmaker) doesn't trust himself completely, and his pacing is so slow that many potentially funny lines or ideas are muffled. Still, the plot is worked out satisfyingly and the film's better moments stay in the memory. ** from ****
Review of Eating Raoul
