Sie haben alle gelacht

I maybe in the minority-I liked this movie. True it is somewhat odd and true it's not that well known but... I came upon it when flipping channels and started watching-it has to grow on you-I found, however, that this is a very unique and fun little pic and if you don't mind all the walking which is mite to make you a bit dizzy(so much walking) why not curl up and watch something different? It is the type of movie that sort of grows on you as you watch and it is not terribly fast moving but it's fun and if you love New York you'll love the metropolitan feel to this movie and the kookiness. It must have been fun to make this Movie and I wish more people knew about it. Check it out if your in the mood for something quirky and different and want to glimpse the big apple in all it's metropolitan glory.

Most of the major actors here do their best with not much to work with. The plot is nonsensical and way over the top. The dialogue seemed to be written by an amateur even though Peter Bogdanovich actually wrote it. This is supposed to be a romantic comedy. If so it's a comedy without any comedy and not much romance. The saving grace here is the nostalgic factor. Watching Audrey Hepburn and Ben Gazarra is a pleasure and in a different movie they may have further contributed to their impressive careers. In this mess, their scenes are impressive to watch precisely for their skill but what their characters do defies logic and you simply just don't buy it. John Ritter is very good and Dorothy Stratton holds her own because all she really has to do is look gorgeous. Collen Camp is, at best, mediocre and the weakest link in this cast. This film is only for film buffs who want to relive an era and marvel at the grace and charm of Ms. Hepburn. They may have all laughed but they weren't watching this movie when they did!!!

There is a certain French farcical charm, however calculated, about director Peter Bogdanovich's 1981 urban valentine to romantic entanglements in Manhattan; but just released on DVD a quarter-century later, the film still feels half-baked in execution. Perhaps because Bogdanovich has too innate a familiarity with Hollywood's golden era, there is just too much pastiche and not enough depth to the shenanigans of three private eyes, their put-upon boss and the various women with whom they intertwine most predictably. The characters come in and out of this omnibus tale like Robert Altman's "Nashville" and Jean Renoir's "Rules of the Game", but the results are not nearly as resonant.

Unfortunately, the movie was jinxed immediately when co-star Dorothy Stratten, who became romantically involved with Bogdanovich during filming, was infamously murdered by her husband right after its completion. If the film was meant as the director's launching pad for Stratten as he did previously for Cybill Shepherd in "The Last Picture Show", he is only partially successful this time as the pretty starlet makes a comparatively modest impression as Dolores, the innocent object of obsession for bumbling detective Charles. These two are part of a larger ensemble, which includes Arthur, a long-haired shamus constantly on roller skates, and John, the veteran investigator who finds himself drawn to Angela Niotes, the possibly philandering wife of an Italian industrialist.

Bogdanovich had the good fortune of casting Audrey Hepburn, in her last feature film starring role, as Angela. Even though her story does not even get going until an hour into the movie, a fiftyish Hepburn looks radiantly stylish and is the epitome of resigned grace as an unhappily married woman. In an apparent nod to Bogie, Ben Gazzara performs too close to the vest as world-weary John, while a young, bespectacled John Ritter seems to regale in all his slapstick business as the smitten Charles. Less successful are Blaine Novak as the overly hip Arthur, model Patti Hansen (long since married to Rolling Stone Keith Richards) as bromide-spouting taxi driver "Sam", and a particularly unctuous Colleen Camp as motor-mouthed country singer Christy Miller insinuating herself into everyone else's lives.

Much like a Jacques Demy film ("The Young Girls of Rochefort" comes immediately to mind), the plot unfolds after a long wordless introduction, and character motivations get filled in on an as-needed basis until the film gains some gravitas and then whimpers away. On the DVD's main extra, Bogdanovich states emphatically that this is the favorite of his films in an interview conducted with director Wes Anderson, who also admires the film (as does Quentin Tarantino, who makes it one of his top ten in "Halliwell's Top 1000" book). The details of the location shooting are interesting, as much was done on a modest scale with a minimum of extras, and Bogdanovich gratefully does not belabor the sensationalistic aspects of Stratten's death. He also provides a solid commentary track, and the print transfer on the DVD is relatively clean. I'm not sure the film is completely worthy of rediscovery in a vaunted 25th Anniversary Edition except for Hepburn's near-valedictory work and any lingering curiosity about Stratten.

Screwball comedy about romantic mismatches in New York City. Peter Bogdanovich is obviously in love with all the women in his picture--he reveres them--yet Audrey Hepburn is (naturally) put a notch above the others because, after all, she's the princess Bogdanovich probably fell in love with at the movies 30 years prior. He shoots her in loving close-ups, gets right in the sheets between her and a wonderfully hard-boiled/soft-boiled Ben Gazzara, and allows her room to sparkle throughout. The love-connections made in the course of the film are fast and amusing, though I did tire of John Ritter's TV-styled klutziness. Colleen Camp, Dorothy Stratten, and the grounded, earthy-sensual Patti Hansen are all exciting to watch. But it's really Hepburn's valentine and she absolutely glows. *** from ****

I suppose we're lucky that this film ever got out at all for the movie going public to see. With the tragic murder of Dorothy Stratten all set to break out into a film career and her connection with director Peter Bogdanovich the big studios thought the whole thing all to sordid. Bogdanovich went bankrupt buying the film from 20th Century Fox and getting it released as best he could.

It was his work and a labor of love in every sense of the word. They All Laughed is a story about a detective agency where the operators just can't stop mixing business with pleasure. They're spying on several women and then get involved with all of them. I mean they are a fetching lot, but apparently no one puts their libido on hold.

The biggest names in the cast are Ben Gazzara and Audrey Hepburn who had co-starred previously in Bloodlines, a truly mediocre film. But this is an ensemble piece and having the biggest box office names doesn't translate into screen time. Gazzara as a detective gets as much time it seems as John Ritter and Blaine Novak. These guys are spying on Hepburn, Stratten, and Colleen Camp. Around as a girl Friday is Patti Hansen who drives a cab and seems always available for the operatives of George Morfogen's agency.

Some lovely viewing of Manhattan during the year 1980 including the once and future twin towers. One thing that made no sense was Colleen Camp as a country singer. Now having lived in New York for almost 50 years I can say that there are no country type bars in Manhattan that have even middle line singers like Camp. Maybe Bogdanovich should have had Camp be a piano bar performer or changed the locale to a city like Houston.

There was also certainly not enough Hepburn. This was an improvement over Bloodlines, but They All Laughed will never rank as one of Audrey Hepburn's great films.