स्किन डीप

This film from Blake Edwards has one of the all-time funniest sequences in it that has even been filmed, and no I'm not talking about the much bally-hoo'd "dueling glow-in-the-dark-condoms" scene.

The post-spa sequence with a spastic John Ritter never fails to put me in grave danger of a major asthmatic attack. It is brilliant physical comedy. See it for that alone… or for the pruriently curious, to see what the Amazonian "Zap" from that strange syndicated physical challenges show of several years back, looks like with her clothes off!

It may not be Edwards' best effort, but it's no where near as dreadful as others here have suggested.

Skin Deep starts off to a soulful, bluesy song called "falling out of love" (lyrically quite fitting for the main character), and we see a woman walking into a house. The house belongs to Zach Hutton, and the woman, we assume, is Zach's wife. She catches him fooling around with a young blonde and grabs Zach's revolver. The scene that follows is hilarious; the music has stopped and we're thrust into a tense but funny moment. As it turns out, this woman is not Zach's wife, but his mistress, and she is ready to kill him until his wife walks in. They introduce themselves and share their disappointment in Zach. At this point, I needed to take a very deep breath to brace myself, because it was very obvious that this guy has issues and this movie was going to be full of hilariously painful situations for our hero. It was no big surprise that within the next few scenes he's sobbing in a psychiatrist's office.

This is a comedy that has an exaggerated sense of being true to life. It is somewhat serious, Zach is a tortured soul, but he's mostly casually tortured and takes his abuse with humour, which makes it okay for us to laugh. He's a washed up writer, his wife has left him with a settlement that was not exactly fair to his side, and he can't get over his obsession with picking up women. He's addicted. This is one pathetic man. He endures some of the most hilarious situations ever committed to film (I won't even bother mentioning the glow-in-the-ark condom sequence, but yes, it is hysterical). He also endures genuine sadness in his life, and that makes him more human than just a simple comic sketch, and makes this such a great movie.

The ending wraps things up a little too easily, but what the hell? Comedies usually have happy endings. The ending was satisfactory, but the movie in general was above average. John Ritter was a master at perfecting both drama and comedy, which is what was needed for this role. He did an amazing job, and I feel it's his finest performance, displaying his genuine charm as a comedic actor, as well as the possibly even more intriguing serious side of a conflicted, lost man. I love this movie.

My rating: 10/10

John Ritter is in fine form as writer with writers block, a drinking problem, and at least a bunch of relationship problems. Ritter trying to change his character, even as his life is spiraling out of control, provides plenty of laughs. Vincent Gardenia plays a bartender, and John Ritter is his best customer. "Skin Deep" is at it's funniest when sharp dialog is being exchanged, and weakest when it resorts to slapstick. The movie is highly original, and maintains interest throughout. My only objection would be that some scenes go on a little too long. If you enjoy Blake Edward's comedies like the "Pink Panther" films, you will not be disappointed. - MERK

John Ritter makes Zach and the film memorable. It's more or less a one man show by him, though the character hardly has an element of heroism in it. He wonderfully transforms himself into Zach Hutton, a writer by profession with a weakness for drinks and women. He faces the fury of boyfriends of the women, and later, the revenge of the girls themselves, after they break up.

The movie progresses with hilarious sequences, at times slap-stick. Be sure not to miss the dialogues, for there are many instances when humour makes its presence in the most unexpected of situations. Altogether non stop entertainment is warrantied..

I rented this video about a year ago & enjoyed this very much. John Ritter plays the character Zack with his trademark physical comedy in full form. Two scenes stand out for me. One is the drop-dead hilarious bit after the therapy session when he goes spastic; and yes, the other is the overrated (but still good) glow-in-the-dark condom fight scene. This is one of Blake Edwards' better films (certainly miles better than "10"). A good film for fans of John Ritter also, especially if all one knows of his acting is the sitcom "Three's Company".