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Exceedingly thin comedy from screenwriter William Peter Blatty (paying his bills) about a cheesecake filmmaker in Greenwich Village under duress from his mail-order distributor to spice up the action. Meanwhile, he's got a new neighbor, a young French widow with a rambunctious son...and a shapely behind! Tepid picture from talents seen to better advantage elsewhere. Warren Beatty looks flustered and performs listlessly, while Leslie Caron is all spunky externals and no depth. The entire plot is laid out for us in the first 15 minutes, while Beatty's competition in the love department is none other than sexless Robert Cummings, he of the mannequin's grin. You know you're in for it when the opening montage consists of a toddler wreaking 'comic' chaos in a jewelry store, playing peek-a-boo for the camera while reacting to animated credits hovering about his head. *1/2 from ****

Struggling filmmaker Harley Rummel (Warren Beatty) is under pressure to make something revolutionary in his mail-order films but he refuses to make porn. He may have to and he has a new neighbor in single mom Michele O'Brien (Leslie Caron). She has her eyes on her boss, child psychologist Philip Brock. He actually hates kids and she keeps her toddler a secret. While Rummel babysits for Michele, he comes up with a new filmmaking idea.

I thought the movie came out with a brilliant idea when Rummel puts the toddler in a movie. I thought he was going to film only the baby and show it to a female audience. I thought it's a great turn but then he just puts the baby in his hoochie coochie movies. Who would want that? The premise falls apart from that point on. It comes so close and yet so far away. Without the right premise, the comedy doesn't hold and non of it feels right.

This is a prime example of this show biz dictum. Beatty and Caron both act as if they are embarrassed to be in this cheap, poorly written, smutty comedy, and well they should. Apparently they were having an affair at the time and would rather be off alone. So would you if you were in this movie. Give it a miss unless you're a fan.

So whenever I say to people, well you know the movies were so much better in the 30-60's I have to think about this and several other 60's romantic comedies that shouldn't have played well then and certainly don't play well now. Bob Cummings is a nice guy but him playing a major role isn't a good sign, Leslie is okay, but Beatty puts in a flat miserable performance. I have to admit I only watched part of the movie and checked in periodically but I don't think I missed a thing.

As you might guess, Promise Her Anything condones lying to women in order to get them into bed. It's not my favorite film, and I would imagine the only women who would like it are those who are completely in love with Warren Beatty. He's very handsome, but I'd rather sit through Splendor in the Grass instead, where he does some acting and doesn't have quite such a despicable character. But if you like to see off-screen couples fall in love on screen, you can rent it.

Leslie Caron is a young and beautiful widow with a little boy. She lives in the building with Warren (her boyfriend in real life at the time), but since she knows he's a playboy and a director of adult movies, she doesn't consider his dating material. Good job, Leslie! She's anxious to hook her boss, Bob Cummings, into being her next husband, since he wrote a best-selling child-rearing book. But the twist is it's all a façade: he hates children. So, who is really the bad influence?

You can correctly assume how I feel about this movie. It would be nice if there were a third option for Leslie: an actually good influence. If her choices are really a pornographic director or a man who hates kids, shouldn't she just stay a single mother?