L'ultima coppia sposata

No, this isn't a very good movie. Fun to watch though if for no other reason than to laugh at the supposed 'hip' attitude of the whole thing when in truth it's about as conventional as a Love Boat episode. The party scene at the end with the hookers, swingers and disco version of 'Singin' in the Rain' is hilarious.

But the reason to see this movie is for Natalie Wood, who gives this film heart. She's absolutely wonderful in it. She was a terrific actress, even in something as frivolous as this ... funny, beautiful, a class act to the very end! None of today's actresses come close to her kind of star-power. I miss great actresses like Natalie Wood.

A fun take on the aftermath of the sexual revolution but could have been better. Natalie Wood and George Segal are a 40ish couple who are happily married but seem to be the only ones left in their circle of friends who still are. They are under constant peer pressure from their friends to seek out extramarital affairs. Eventually Segal is seduced by Wood's friend Barbara played by a blonde Valerie Harper (cast against type from her long TV role as Rhoda Morgenstern) The supporting cast are stellar, a who's who of comedic actors of that era; Richard Benjamin, Alan Arbus, Bob Dishy and Priscilla Barnes but its the effortless chemistry between Natalie Wood and George Segal that are the backbone of the movie. Natalie's performances in her later years were far better than she's been given credit for. Her entire career were various snapshots of the mores of the times. She ultimately always made America feel good about its moral center even in her tragic roles. The sitcom feel of the whole film does it a disservice because it could have held up better over time if the script was better. Seeing this in 2020 is more like an archeological excavation digging up bones of a long lost civilization instead of a witty character study like Annie Hall or Manhattan. All and all its a worthwhile watch even just to see Natalie's last completed theatrical release.

Jeff (George Segal) and Mari (Natalie Wood) Thompson are a happily married couple...but all the other married couples they know are divorced or separated and seem happy being single. It leads them to start questioning their own marriage and if they really are happy.

I only caught this for Natalie Wood. This film was not a success (I remember it bombed badly back in 1980) and it was Wood's second to last theatrical film. It's not as bad as I've heard but no great movie either. It has a LOT of sex talk and jokes and bed hopping (this was pre-AIDS) but surprisingly no nudity till the very end. In fact, it plays a lot like an R rated sitcom. The script actually isn't bad--it perfectly captures the late 1970s styles, language and attitude towards sex and marriage. But, it cops out at the end and becomes VERY conventional. Pretty typical for a Hollywood sex comedy. The cast is very attractive--Segal overacts but in an endearing way, Wood is just great and looks fantastic (it's surprising to hear her swear!} and Valerie Harper is excellent as a sexually liberated woman. The biggest problem here is that it's never really funny. It's only mildly amusing at best. Still if you're interested in the 1970s and their view of sex you'll probably like this. I give it a 5.

George Segal and Natalie Wood portray an upper-class married couple in Los Angeles who find they are the last of a dying breed: all the men and women within their circle of friends are separated from their spouses, divorced, or on the make. Occasionally smart and amusing screenplay by John Herman Shaner doesn't take a righteous stand on the sexy goings-on, though Shaner is quick to point out the pitfalls of the swinging middle-ager (impotency, venereal disease, unfulfilled coupling). Gilbert Cates directs it like an R-rated TV show, though some of the intended bite (laced with grown-up, witty humor) manages to come through, and the cast is good--however less of hammy Dom DeLuise would have been an improvement. Wood, in particular, shows a great deal of growth since her not-dissimilar dalliance with sexual inhibitions in 1969's "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice"; she's surprisingly loose and physical here, and works comfortably with Segal, though George himself is rather wrung-out. With the sexual revolution of the 1970s fading fast upon its release, the film didn't stand a chance at the box-office, but parts of it are very funny and trenchant and have held up well. ** from ****

See "The Last Married Couple in America" with "Serial" (released around the same time...) and you get a good idea of what ideas were floating around during the late 70s and early 80s.

Though both films are not very good and they are horribly dated (in a fun way) they reflect a post 60s hangover attitude that's interesting in light of what occurred in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan.

Many thought that the 60s was going to usher in a whole new perspective and enlightenment to the masses. The use of drugs and free love was supposed to push all people's barriers down and out and a new world was to be created. Most people may not have completely shared in that feeling but there was a strong feeling of new and better things were going to happen.

But of course it didn't. People were burned out in the 70s and reality settled in: drugs, free love...it didn't change much at all. And in some cases, it made things worse by making it all so confusing. People who thought that the 60s were going to make everything better were disillusioned to find that nothing fundamental had really changed at all.

That's where "The Last Married Couple in America" and "Serial" take their cues. Both movies start off by trying to be "risky", "edgy" and "daring" by using a lot of four letter words and pseudo-risqué sex scenes (all pretty conventional, actually). The jokes are just sitcom material spiced up with "naughty" words.

In the end, both movies end with a very comfortable reaffirmation of the family/marriage unit and a rejection of the sexual revolution.

OK...so there might be some ripe material made out of this. But neither of these two is it, especially "The Last Married Couple in America". It's another one of those lame 70s comedies like "Silver Bears" with Cybil Shepherd. These are the types of films that even when they were released, I couldn't figure out who would pay money to see them.