Enter Laughing

"Enter Laughing" is a delightful film based on Carl Reiner's book about his own early show business experiences.

The 1967 film stars Shelley Winters, Elaine May, Jose Ferrer, Jack Gilford, Don Rickles, David Opatashu, Janet Margolin, and introduces the attractive Reni Santoni as "Don Coleman," aka David Kolowitz.

The film I believe is supposed to take place in the late 1930s - the first frame is a 1938 Photoplay cover of Tyrone Power - but in all honesty, the clothing and atmosphere only suggest that era.

David is a young man living at home, and his parents want him to be a pharmacist. He's not thinking about much of anything except getting laid.

He works for a more than tolerant boss (Gifford), flirts with a beautiful secretary in the building (Nancy Kovack, who became Nancy Mehta) and sneaks time on the phone with his girlfriend (Margolin) and imitating Ronald Coleman to her.

David decides to try acting and goes to a drama school audition. The school is actually a playhouse run by the seen better days Harrison Marlowe (Jose Ferrer) and his too old to be an ingenue but she's one anyway daughter Angela (Elaine May) starring in a play currently running.

At the moment, they're short a leading man. Looking over the prospects - "Clark Baxter," "Spencer Reynolds" and "Don Coleman," she wants Coleman. Unfortunately, David (as Coleman) auditions by reading the stage direction "Enter laughing" as a line.

The hilarity then begins, with David trying to learn an entire script in two days, never having acted before, trying to find his way on stage and being literally thrown on by the stage manager and practicing love scenes with Angela.

The cast is a riot, and if Santoni is a bit wrong for the role, so be it. He has a sweetness and a guilelessness that come across very well. He went on to enjoy a prolific television career and today, at 69, he's still working.

The acting is great, with Elaine May hilarious as Angela, Shelley Winters and David Opatoshu wonderful as his long-suffering parents and Gifford as his boss. Ferrer as the insufferable Marlowe is perfect.

The comedy remains fresh after 40 years. Recommended.

This is a poignant, funny, coming of age film, based loosely on Carl Reiner's introduction to show business during the depression. Teenage David decides to become an actor to the dismay of his mother, played superbly by Shelley Winters, as an ever-suffering Jewish Mom ("Whatever makes you happy"). There are great performances by Jack Gilford as David's old-world boss, worried that he may be mixed up with an Italian girl ("Wanda, I think", he tells David when she calls). Mel Ferrer and Reni Santoni have a hilarious scene, on which the title is based, where David is given the stage direction "Enter Laughing", and does his best to comply, with no success. It brought tears to my eyes. Elaine May sets up punch lines like a pro, and Janet Margolin is adorable as the girlfriend, and Don Rickles has a nice, small role, that suits him well.

The screenplay sounds like it was written by Neil Simon. It should have gotten more recognition. Well Worth seeing.

A terrific movie whose human and humorous story is enlivened by an ensemble company of great character actors at the top of their form: Shelley Winters as the archetypal manipulative mom, Jack Gilford as the tough but sympathetic boss, Ferrer and May, Richard Deacon as the long-suffering stage manager, Michael G. Pollard as the best friend, and Don Rickles as the put-upon Harry Hamburger.

But Ferrer gets two of my favorite lines in all of cinema. Walking by as Rickles and Santoni exchange pants -- don't ask -- he says, "We don't GO for that sort of thing." And, forced to complement Santoni after a disastrous performance, he mutters to himself, "Thank God I'm an alcoholic!"

If I hadn't taken TV Productions, I never would have heard of this film. My teacher showed me this film near the end of the school year and taking us about 2 classes to watch the whole thing, I was laughing so hard, it makes me wonder why we don't have comedies like this anymore.

The story revolves around a guy who just finished high school and decides to live his dream as an actor. Turns out, while auditioning, he can't act, but the daughter of the guy running the theater chooses him for the role because of his good looks.

The characters are all likable. Reni Santoni, who plays the lead character, David, was perfect for the role. His character is portrayed as a bad liar as well as indecisive, and he managed to pull it off well. The rest of the characters played by other actors like Janet Margolin, Jack Gilford, Don Rickles, etc. were all perfect for their respective roles. I may not be familiar with the actors (minus Don Rickles from the Toy Story trilogy), but they are all great.

The highlight of the movie is the humor. I never laughed so hard while watching a comedy. The humor sounds natural and not so forced. Even my teacher was laughing on some occasions while we were watching it, especially the climax, which I'm not going to spoil. You can't finish the movie without laughing at least once or twice, or even more than that.

It's too bad no one gave a darn about this movie and it has long since forgotten over the years. Heck, it's not even on DVD or Blu-Ray. No one should miss out on such an underrated comedy.

I believe the movie has a message in which you make your own decisions on how to live your life and not let anyone else control them. This movie is a fine example. If you find a copy of it on VHS, don't hesitate. I highly recommend this to anyone who is a dedicated fan of comedies.

The first few minutes of this movie were nearly perfection. And while the level of humor couldn't be sustained all the way through, since there had to be more dramatic and romantic moments in the middle, there is some truly great material here. The play within a play was the funniest I had seen since "Noises Off"--David may have entered, but we were the ones laughing.

All of the leading performers did such a good job it's hard to single anyone out. One exception is the actors in the play, but then they were supposed to be bad, which means they were good. The first actor to speak in in the play, however, did an excellent job.

Because of my familiarity with these people, I felt Don Rickles and Jack Gilford stood out. I actually did not know Jack Gilford for years except as the man in the Cracker Jack commercials, but I think he did a fine job here. Don Rickles only had two scenes, but his performance in one of them was one of the best of the movie. Hilarious. And he and David set up one of the best quotes.

Jose Ferrer also made an impact. Yes, he had good reason to yell half the time.He did it very well. Overall, his may have been the standout performance.

I didn't recognize Rob Reiner, son of director Carl, and forgot to look for him until I saw the closing credits. Fortunately, this was on my TiVo. He was one of those auditioning for the role David got. Only a couple of lines, but he was pretty good. No sign he would become great, but looking at him a second time, he could have done more.

This movie had lots of great music, like so many of the era. People just don't know everything Quincy Jones was capable of.

This was a real winner.