California Suite

That's the one thing I remembered about this Neil Simon comedy, Maggie Smith saying "That's not funny, that's bizarre" I had never heard the word "bizarre" like that. Bee-zaaaarr, or something like that but Maggie Smith uses it brilliantly as an irresistible comic tool. I remember being kind of put off because Maggie won an Oscar for this over Meryl Streep for The Deer Hunter but, watching it now. I understand. Maggie Smith is fantastic and her marital banter with Michael Caine is a total delight. The movie, as a movie is a whole other story. Flimsy and dated with a musical score that may remind you of some of most generic TV movie. Jane Fonda is great, Elaine May and Walter Matthau, hilarious but it also has Bill Cosby, hard to watch now and a hilarious Richard Pryor. Herbert Ross directs respectfully but without any cinematic ambitions. Maggie Smith and Michael Caine however make the whole thing worth it.

I've always liked this movie, ever since I saw it in the theater as a 12-year-old. (With my church youth group, no less -- what were they thinking??) It's flawed, but generally fun, and I like the sun-soaked, palm-fringed atmosphere.

Maggie Smith is the undisputed standout. Her portrayal is brilliant and she and Michael Caine fling one-liners at each other with biting abandon. I've always liked both Jane Fonda and Alan Alda, so I enjoy their storyline too, though their exchanges seem forced and a little too clever. I'm a Cosby fan, but his scenes with Richard Pryor are uncomfortable -- it's troubling that the film's only black characters are relegated to brute physical comedy. Walter Matthau and Elaine May do a great job, but I never liked the hooker skit -- not sure why.

I buy very few films, but I do own this one, and over the years I've watched it so many times I know all the lines...

I know that this film does not get much acclaim, and it is indeed a rather inconsistent affair, but the fourth segment featuring the late great Walter Matthau (whom we unfortunately lost last Saturday)is absolutely hilarious and is by far and away the best in the film. Matthau is able to pull off the "hide the hooker" from my wife skit so convincingly that one could almost view this as actually happening in real life. I know of few comic actors who would not overplay this scene, and it is a great testament to the man himself.

Neil Simon received an Oscar nomination for adapting his own hit play to the screen, though his writing seems to be caught in a perpetual time-warp. No subject discussed seems fresh, and all his one-liners and tiresome penchant for name-dropping would fall flat without the help of some talented actors to keep things afloat. Hotel in Beverly Hills houses Jane Fonda and Alan Alda as bickering ex-marrieds; Walter Matthau as a husband trying to hide a hooker from wife Elaine May; Michael Caine as the put-upon husband of Oscar-nominated actress Maggie Smith (who really did win an Oscar); and Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor as accident-prone husbands vacationing with their wives. Aside from the acidic verbal jousting from Caine and Smith (in the film's best episode), this comedy directed by Herbert Ross pretty much congeals midway through. Matthau's exaggerated angst is funny, but this seems rote material for the actor (though he and Elaine May are well-matched as ever). Fonda easily upstages Alda after changing into her bikini (her figure is so fabulous, one gets the feeling the actress may have accepted her dim role for the sole excuse to show it off). The Cosby-Pryor segment is a slapstick torpedo. Overall, there's too much physical shtick and not enough humanity in "California Suite" to make it the sophisticated laugh-fest Simon buffs were touting it as. **1/2 from ****

Neil Simon focuses his attention on a variety of people at a hotel in this 1978 comedy hit.

Walter Matthau certainly has a penchant as a hotel guest. Remember him with Maureen Stapleton and several other ladies in another hotel farce comedy-drama?

Matthau, as always, is hilarious when he attempts to hide a hooker from his wife. It seems that Elaine May is always the naive victim in films. Remember her in 1972's "The Heartbreak Kid?"

The real acting kudos here goes to Maggie Smith for a gem of a supporting Oscar-winning performance in this film. Smith plays an actress at the hotel who has been nominated for an Oscar. A win would mean a tremendous comeback for her. Naturally, she loses. How many people have won Oscars for playing an Oscar loser in a film? Judy Garland accomplished the opposite in 1954 in "A Star is Born." In the film she is an actress who wins the academy award but in real-life competition lost it to Grace Kelly for "The Country Girl." Only the lord knows why.

Smith is just grand as she prances around the room delivering memorable one-liners. This is just a gem of a film.