La signora in rosso

Wilder's best loved comedy. It's nice to see him behind the camera also in this witty picture about a man enthralled by this model of beauty, played sumptuously by LeBrock, only to find that there's more to loving someone than just a great body. Wilder performs some of his finest screwball comedy and is given great support from Grodin, Ivey, Bologna and Gilda Radner. Stevie Wonder's song is also catchy and adds plenty of flavor to a fun romantic-comedy.

Saw this when I was pretty young. I just remember Kelly being gorgeous, and the Pantene lady in a movie. Is it comedy? Not really. It's just a bunch of middle aged guys messing around, but there's Gilda Radner too! Love her. They sort of even out the cheating thing with his wife messing with her daughter's bf. Flirty.

The movie begins with Teddy apparently about to jump off a ledge nine stories up. Why? He starts to tell us how it all began, and we go back to that day with the scene straight out of 'Seven Year Itch', only Charlotte has dark hair and is dressed in red. And it turns out she is a model for the San Francisco cable car ad campaign, which Teddy is involved with. Despite that, Teddy has a lot of trouble meeting this woman, and his attempts meet with humorous results. For example, on more than one occasion he thinks he is talking to her but it turns out to be Ms. Milner, and this is good for a number a laughs.

Teddy, however, shouldn't be thinking about another woman. He is married to Didi and they have two daughters. If Teddy needed any incentive to behave himself, he should keep in mind what happened to Joey when he cheated on Teresa (Joey and Teresa's young son is staying with Teddy and Didi). And apparently he is not destined to have a relationship with Charlotte, because his attempts are just one disaster after another.

Gene Wilder is good as always, especially with physical comedy and when he has to talk his way out of jams. Kelly LeBrock is pleasant and sweet, with a slightly naughty side (I saw an edited version, so I surely didn't see all there was of her). Gilda Radner is nasty in a way that didn't appeal to me, but others might like it. I liked most of the songs by Dionne Warwick and Stevie Wonder, some of which they did together--though one gets played entirely too much on the radio all these years later and I got tired of it long ago. There is some physical comedy, but plenty of funny situations too. But the movie is not all funny. Some of it is touching, and some parts are depressing.

Some highlights, in addition to Joey's nasty surprise and Ms. Milner's bizarre behavior:

-We hear one side of what may be a very naughty phone conversation at Teddy's workplace.

-A hilarious scene in a nice restaurant where one of Teddy's friends pretends to be blind and causes chaos.

-Shelly, whose hairstyle sort of looks Native American (while black on the sides, it's red and blonde in the middle) even though his parents are Jewish, has come to take Teddy's daughter Missy to a David Bowie concert.

-Didi explains what happened to Joey and Teresa but doesn't say everything.

-Teddy and Didi are getting ready for a big night, but that gets interrupted.

-Teddy's grandmother Mama Dell is celebrating her 85th birthday. I can't say more, but from the time Teddy arrives at her apartment until the end of the movie, everything is great and most of it is very funny. I can say, since this is how the movie began, that Teddy does end up out on a ledge.

This was a pleasant, slightly naughty farce that was really worth seeing.

Hard to believe, but this movie is over 20 years old!! While not a great movie, its rating on IMDb seems to be a bit low. I think it deserves a "6" or a "7".

Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman) was 50 here when he played Teddy Pierce, an otherwise normal married man who catches a glimpse of temptation in the beautiful form of Charlotte, played by shapely Kelly LeBrock, 23. A perfect older man/younger woman attraction, not unlike "10" with Dudley Moore. In real life, an attraction such as this almost always ends a split second after it begins. Teddy was a typical, frumpy middle aged man, and Charlotte a slim, beautiful young woman. But the funny begins when Charlotte actually reciprocates the attraction.

Perhaps the most memorable scene, they end up at her place in the daytime, he ends up on the ledge outside the window, attracting a big crowd who think he wants to kill himself, when Charlotte's young and virile husband comes home unexpectedly. His family see him on TV and the rest plays out in a very funny manner.

Charles Grodin is very good as Buddy, the homosexual friend of Teddy's, and has to save the moment at a surprise party where Teddy is with Charlotte. In all an entertaining movie, nothing more. Kelly LeBrock started out as a model, and we can see why. However, she wasn't much of an actress and that shows in her later work. Nothing much to write about.

A bit of trivia, Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner were both single during filming in late 1983, a year later they married each other, so that tells us a lot about what went on during making this movie.

FEB 2025 update: Just watched it again, after 20 years, streaming on Prime. Entertaining romp, much of it seemed fresh.

Teddy Pierce (Gene Wilder) works in a San Francisco ad agency and finds himself on a ledge wondering what went wrong. Four weeks previous, he sees the woman in red Charlotte (Kelly LeBrock) doing the Seven Year Itch dance in the parking lot. He tries to make a date with her despite being happily married to Didi (Judith Ivey) with kids. Miscommunication leads to Ms. Milner (Gilda Radner) getting the call who assumes that she's going on the date. His womanizing friend Joey (Joseph Bologna) loses his wife who takes everything. He continues with plans for the affair anyways while the guys Buddy (Charles Grodin) and Mikey take Joey for a night out. He has second thoughts and stands up Ms. Milner while Charlotte doesn't even know who he is.

There is no redeeming Teddy's antics but Gene Wilder gets a few good laughs in. I love Gilda Radner in this when she takes it out on Gene. The movie works best when Teddy gets put down. It doesn't work as much knowing he's lying to his wife. This movie should have more misadventures and hitting Teddy's nuts.