The Family Jewels

I wanted to like "The Family Jewels" but found there was more to it to dislike than like. It's really a shame, as some aspects of the film were quite good--but too much of it suffered from extreme overacting.

The film begins with a very rich little girl being told by lawyers that her father's will stipulates that she must move in with one of her five uncles. So, the plan is for her to visit each uncle and spend a couple weeks with each of them--and then she gets to choose the one she'll live with for the rest of her life. The uncles, it turns out, are all played by Jerry Lewis. And, oddly, their unrelated chauffeur also is played by Jerry. So, in many ways the film is reminiscent of such comedies as "Kind Hearts and Coronets", "The Mouse That Roared" and "The Klumps".

There were some parts of the film I liked. A few of the jokes (a distinct minority) were funny and I caught myself laughing a couple times. Additionally, I liked watching the relationship between the chauffeur and the child--showing what I've thought for a long time--that Lewis was EXCELLENT at drama and I wish the film had more of that. But, too often the characters were done with no subtlety and although many reviewers love him, I found much of the antics overbearing and overdone. Subtle, it ain't! It's a shame, as I do like some of Lewis' films--but others just needed less--a lot less.

Ah, Jerry Lewis. One of the most underappreciated comic actor/writer/directors. In "The Family Jewels" he attempts to play every single member of a family of brothers...and pulls it off successfully. All these Lewis characters are funny and quirky, and this movie is consistently entertaining all the way through. Note the similarites between the voice of the airline pilot Peyton brother and the voice of Paul Reubens' Pee-Wee Herman. The plot here involves a young girl who must live with one of her uncles, and her search for the uncle she likes best. But that's mostly an excuse to let Lewis show off his incredible comedic character talents. Sometimes downright cartoonlike.

Jerry had to reach deep into his bag of stupid jokes, gags, and ham handed comedy to come up with this little jewel[?]. It doesn't play well by today's standards, in fact the whole thing is double lame; especially the 2 bits using son Gary and his band. Did the Playboys need this gig to further their hinky dinky careers? I did get a few laughs, but the film was really just too goofy....as usual for Lewis. What was with Jerry's hair? Two or three inches long in the front, and a buzz cut in back: a reverse of today's style.

The father of a 9 year old Donna Peyton (Donna Putterworth) dies and she has to live with one of her six uncles, which are all played by Jerry Lewis.He also plays a chauffeur called Willard Woodward.All the uncles are nutty in a way or an other.There is a clown and the other is like Jerry's character in The Nutty Professor.The Family Jewels (1965) is a movie, that mr Lewis also directed and wrote.I remember when I saw it in 1998, when I was 16 and liked it very much.As a huge Jerry Lewis fan I was delighted to see Jerry Lewis in seven.He and the young Donna do both great job in this movie.This is a funny comedy which ain't a wonder since it's a Jerry Lewis film.It makes me glad to read from IMDB that he's making an appearance in a movie called Miss Cast Away this year.Let's hope we'll see this 78 year old comedian in more movies in the future.

I finally figured out why the French love Jerry Lewis. They have this idea that one guy should be the "author" of a film: director, scenarist, star performer, the whole bit. Fernandel was like that. For their transAtlantic tastes, this standup jokester turned movie mogul is just the ticket.

I saw "The Family Jewels" in the theater as a little boy and loved it; Lewis had reached the point where he could make kids laugh. But are Vegas audiences of adults still buying his act?

This story probably would have been more believable as a stage presentation, as Lewis's mugging certainly works better before a live audience. It's OK on film, and continues to appear on cable from time to time. For someone who figured out how to entertain the little ones, Jerry Lewis here pulls off the very considerable feat of not being upstaged by a child actor.