The Six Wives of Henry Lefay

"The Six Wives of Henry LaFey" has some great laughs and great performances, and was well worth the rental. I wasn't expecting much and got a pleasant surprise from this indie-comedy.

LaFey (Tim Allen) has a group of women he's been married to all living in the same backwater town. His daughter Barbie (Elisha Cuthbert) can barely stand him, and after seeing her father extremely embarrass her, Barbie says she never wants to see him again. She gets her wish, and a year later, it seems he's died in Mexico. Barbie decides she wants to lay her dad to rest with a "modicum of dignity", which will be difficult considering the six wives Henry had, all demanding their own way of seeing him off.

This was a really funny movie. The jokes are for the most part pretty clean, you could watch this with the family and not face any problems. The direction is great, there aren't any unnecessary scenes. But perhaps the best thing about this movie is the cast. Tim Allen nails a hysterical performance, and Elisha Cuthbert proves herself as adept a lead as Allen. The rest of the cast, mainly Henry's wives, all turn in funny, funny performances.

A fun, funny film. I definitely recommend.

They don't make screwball comedies like they used to, but this one was pretty good. In my opinion, "The Six Wives of Henry Lefay" rates a solid 6 1/2 stars. While I wasn't doubling over with laughter through the entire movie, the time I spent watching this crazy family go nuts and enjoying my bowl of ice-cream was thoroughly entertaining.

Yes, Henry is an unconstrained libertine with the social IQ of a 13 year old boy. He races through relationships so fast that he doesn't even take time to glance back at the trails of tears for which he is responsible. In fact, his little boy affect is probably what keeps the women in his wake from killing him. Once connected to him, they stay connected, even burdened with their pain and anger. His daughter, Barbie, has been dealt with by him in a very similar vein. Yet, she, along with his suite of sweets, his collection of coquettes, has his back in time of need. WHY!?

Another reviewer questions why any woman would fall in love with Henry. My response to that is, "Why did Laura Bush fall in love with George? Hillary with Bill? Me with my first husband? We don't need a reason. We just do it! Maybe we are looking for our father-figure, who, by-the-way, we had no part in choosing in the first place. Since we don't have any part in picking them, our father can be the last man on earth we would ever think of dating, and yet there we go, marrying them! What is there to say? Either d-i-v-o-r-c-e or long-suffering, pretty well says it all!

This movie has been widely panned, criticized for lack of depth(?) as well as character development. After seeing some of the very popular movies in the 'comedy' genre currently, I am surprised that these are even requirements. In my opinion, many of us watch certain films simply for entertainment value. Furthermore, are there not endless numbers of variables in our lives that bring humorous connections to various story lines? "The Six Wives of Henry Lefay" was funny, relevant (believe it or not), sweet, and a bit odd. I found myself thinking, were I in this the same situation, I might have shot the guy! But this is not the first movie of its kind.

"The Six Wives of Henry Lefay" is a contemporary screwball comedy reminiscent of the fun and warm films of early 20th century such as "Bluebeard's Eighth Wife" with Carey Grant and Claudette Colbert. A man with faults, people who stick by him, lots of laughs, redemption and a moral delivered at the end is the recipe for a very nice movie night at home for the right audience.

Weekend at Bernie's. Death at a Funeral. Grand Theft Parsons. Call me sick, but there's something hilarious about dead people. And if you feel the same way, you'll enjoy this movie even if it isn't exactly Citizen Kane.

In the opening scene, our titular character Henry, while bragging about his 6 ex-wives, dies. In the second scene we learn that his estranged daughter "Barbie" (wonderfully played by Elisha Cuthbert in a role that may remind you of the adorably neurotic Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally") must organize his funeral which is to be attended by, you guessed it, his 6 ex-wives.

From there you can probably guess how things turn disastrous, and that's the fun of this movie. It's so delightfully predictable that you needn't stretch your brain cell too far to have a good time. Presented in an interesting collage of flashbacks of Henry's life and vignettes of the days leading up to the actual funeral, the movie gives us some funny, over-the-top characters. My favorite was probably Wife #2 "Ophelia" (hilariously played by Jenna Elfman), a vodka tonic swilling socialite who always seems to be just 1 Xanax away from being a serial killer. Tim Allen himself plays a memorable role as Henry Lefay, not exactly a likable guy, but very fun to watch as he makes a total arse of himself.

There's a serious undertone in a subplot about the daughter Barbie and her inability to commit to romance herself, despite the fact that she's dating an absolute dreamboat "Lloyd" (Eric Christian Olsen) who will likely have all the ladies in the audience swooning and all the gents nervously checking around their seats to see where they dropped their sensitive side.

In all, this is a fun romcom driven not so much by its plot as it is by the absolutely insane characters in the story. Don't miss small but memorable performances by Barbara Barrie ("Grandma Mae") and Edward Herrmann ("Mr. Goodenough" the funeral director) who are both respected veterans of the 1960s Alfred Hitchcock hour as well as more TV credits than you can shake a remote at. "The Six Wives of Henry Lefay" is an adult yet family friendly film without any gratuitous nudity (well OK, we do see Tim Allen's bum as he runs naked from a knife-wielding psycho) and without any profanity (well OK, there is one F-bomb but it is perfectly placed and thoroughly hilarious). Safe to watch with your kids or your parents... but definitely not your ex-wife.

When "The Six Wives of Henry Lefay" is just a screwball comedy, it's actually pretty good. Every ex-wife has something to add to the hilarity and absurdity, and Tim Allen is the best he's been in years as the unapologetic Lothario, Henry Lefay.

Jenna Elfman is the crazy ex-wife, Ophelia, she could very well be his one true love except for when she's chasing him around the house with a carving knife. Andie MacDowell is her usual self, trying to bring stability as the mother of Henry's child. Lindsay Sloane is particularly hilarious as the naive and current but soon-to-be ex wife. However the star of this movie is Elisha Cuthbert, Barbie, Henry's daughter. She has had it with him marrying women younger than her, lying to her, and tricking her into trying to break up with a wife for him. She's at her best as a tough, together, independent woman when she as to arrange her father's funeral while trying to appease all the wives.

Cuthbert is great as Barbie, and the movie really is about her, but she's the only character with any kind of depth. When "The Six Wives of Henry Lefay" tries to be a touching drama, it fails miserably. There is nothing particularly thoughtful about this film, and all the wives are painfully painted one-dimensionally, and I don't think they were supposed to be.

"The Six Wives of Henry Lefay" is funny, but it's not particularly wise or emotionally profound.

The late 2000's weren't a great time for Tim Allen professionally. Toy Story aside he didn't make many great films (if any) with perhaps him trying to pop up in quirky fare that would lead him in a new career direction.

None of them really worked, and this is a fine example.

It's likeable, it's got some good people around along the way to lighten his load (always lovely to see Lindsay Sloane), but much like his other darker comedy 'Big Trouble' all the moving pieces and well-known people can't save a weak script, or elevate this above being a middling affair at best.

It's not hard to see why Allen then looked to return to TV via 'Last Man Standing', as his time as a film leading man looked to be ending.