First of all, this film was not hated by critics. It was adored by critics, and it was a huge hit.
Second, it is not a rip-off of anything else. It isn't derivative of anything else. It was a book. Then it was a play, starring Diana Sands and Alan Alda. Then it became this movie, with some significant changes, the main one being the elimination of the interracial pairing that had existed in the play.
Third, George Segal has been working in comedies for his entire career.
Fourth, this is a seriocomedy, with easily as much pathos as comedy. The comedy is broad and rapid-fire, and the pathos is very intense. There are moments of intense pain along with some really hearty laughs.
Fifth, this is a time capsule. New York was a violent, dirty, impoverished, scary place in 1970, and never did people on the fringes struggle more. This is a time where you could be thrown out of your apartment in the middle of the night for making too much noise, before ATMs and when people had recordings of vicious dogs next to their front doors to deter all-too-common burglars. This is a time of a seedy 42nd Street, where you could go to one of 40 porn houses and watch full- length dirty movies all night, surrounded by drunks and bums and perverts. This is a movie of a place and time that doesn't exist any more, and these were the people who tried not to lose themselves while trying to make their dreary lives a little more than the reality they were trapped in.
When people take themselves and this site too seriously, and run off at the mouth about movies they don't understand in language that is imprecise and improperly used, it makes me annoyed.
Watch this film. It is unlike others. You will find things to love in it.
Second, it is not a rip-off of anything else. It isn't derivative of anything else. It was a book. Then it was a play, starring Diana Sands and Alan Alda. Then it became this movie, with some significant changes, the main one being the elimination of the interracial pairing that had existed in the play.
Third, George Segal has been working in comedies for his entire career.
Fourth, this is a seriocomedy, with easily as much pathos as comedy. The comedy is broad and rapid-fire, and the pathos is very intense. There are moments of intense pain along with some really hearty laughs.
Fifth, this is a time capsule. New York was a violent, dirty, impoverished, scary place in 1970, and never did people on the fringes struggle more. This is a time where you could be thrown out of your apartment in the middle of the night for making too much noise, before ATMs and when people had recordings of vicious dogs next to their front doors to deter all-too-common burglars. This is a time of a seedy 42nd Street, where you could go to one of 40 porn houses and watch full- length dirty movies all night, surrounded by drunks and bums and perverts. This is a movie of a place and time that doesn't exist any more, and these were the people who tried not to lose themselves while trying to make their dreary lives a little more than the reality they were trapped in.
When people take themselves and this site too seriously, and run off at the mouth about movies they don't understand in language that is imprecise and improperly used, it makes me annoyed.
Watch this film. It is unlike others. You will find things to love in it.