Appartamento al Plaza

The old cliche applies to this brilliantly acted and wonderfully scripted film; they don't make them like this any more. The comedy, the intensity, the emotion is all in the dialogue and in the performances of the leading ladies and of course, that of Walter Matthau as the three lead male characters.

The dialogue crackles from start to finish. I don't think a script like this would ever get the green light in Hollywood today. Too much talk, not enough drama, nothing that really happens. In many ways it's more like a French film.

Walter Matthau is from that wonderful generation of fifties and sixties comic actors who could be over-the-top without overracting (Peter Sellers, Phil Silvers, Tony Hancock etc.). He manages to do this whilst never losing his grip on his characters and always managing to surprise with his subtle facial expressions and the comic timing of his movement.

Great performances and a great film.

3 wonderful short stories are fused together in this 1971 film.

The first story, which is the best, stars Walter Matthau and Maureen Stapleton as a couple whose marriage is failing and is spending their 23rd or 24th wedding anniversary there. Stapleton is terrific here as always. She shows great depth in going from a ditsy housewife to a woman hurt by the affair her husband has been having with his secretary.

In the typical tradition of Simon, Stapleton wonders why her husband couldn't be more original since all men have affairs with their secretaries.

Matthau stars in the second story as well but this time with Barbara Harris. As a Hollywood producer, he has come to N.Y. on business but has other things on his mind such as the seduction of Harris, a housewife from N.J. that he knew years ago when he lived in Tenafly. Matthau is quite funny here with his attempt to be suave and slick. While constantly changing her times of departure, Harris is hilarious while becoming quite inebriated from the liquor that Matthau serves up. Yet, this is the weakest of the 3 stories since you can't await for that bedroom scene that invariably takes place. Guess that Harris' marriage to Larry isn't as great as she made it out to be after all.

In the 3rd segment, Matthau and Lee Grant star as a couple whose daughter is about to be married at the hotel. Trouble is she has wedding jitters so she locks herself in the bathroom. A very funny routine is establish by Matthau and Grant attempting to get her to come out and get married. It is only when her husband-to-be is summoned, he solves everything by telling her to "cool it." So, here we see the generation gap is action.

The common link in the film is room 719 where the 3 stories take place. If only the walls could talk, they'd tell you not to miss this film.

I swear, Neil Simon was window peeping on my life. At least, in the 1st vignette. I had that conversation, and I had/have that memory. Amazing. Simon is a master. I saw this the 1st at a much younger age and couldn't relate but I can now. I haven't been the wedding character yet, but it's coming. I've met the guy in vignette #2, but I'm smarter and left his dumba$$ at the bar.

I just watched this movie for the first time. And I have re-watched the first "act" a number of times now. I never gave Maureen Stapleton much of a thought, frankly. Until I watched this movie. I like this movie very much. It will be one of my "go-to's,"- those pictures that I can always watch and always enjoy. Matthau is effective throughout. Act 2 is played quite broadly, and it's a fun segment, but the weakest. Act 3 is (because I can't think of a better descriptor) conventionally funny - it follows the familiar pattern, and it's very good. But the best is the first act where the real focus is Stapleton. From the moment we first see her, she looks real. I wager that most people who watch this movie knows someone that is her character. Watch her closely, as she puts nuance into every scene - the expressions on her face, the gestures. There's a scene where she sits down on a bed, back to the camera as Matthau leaves the room. It's followed by her talking to herself. It's a brilliant bit of acting, that feels so real, and struck an emotional chord in me. I gave this an "8." If I had to grade each act separately, it would be: Act 1 - 10; Act 2 - 7; Act 3 - 8 Watch and enjoy.

Not very funny or interesting. All three of the skits are pretty boring. I could hardly keep myself awake during the second one, I only watched the third one because i heard it was the best of the three, It was just as bad as the first two. Walter Matthau is a fine actor but not in here.