Loving and Laughing

IMDb mark: 4

It's hard to figure out this film. Is it a comedy? Do we detect some 'Animal House'-like scenes? Is it a drama? About life in Quebec (and Vermont, sort of) at the beginning of the '70s? Is it a nude-fest? Well, it is a nude-fest, but it's not an erotic movie. All these 'symptoms' make it hard to categorize this film, so I will just file it under adventure, sort of a miscellaneous for movies.

-Plot: A French tutor has problems with his car, and a group of hippies help him out. But he grows to like the uninhibited lifestyle that they lead, and agrees to help out one of the hippies by switching places with him. 17/25

-Cast: I think only Celine Lomez had some actual fans at that time, and she doesn't even appear for that long. Yes, the cast is almost unknown. 2/17

-Ending: The ending is much too sudden. Couldn't they have done it any other way? 3/15

-Comedy: I guess there are times when you can laugh, during this movie. But very few, so, if you are looking for comedy, this isn't one of the best choices. 3/14

-Acting: It's not extremely good, but the actors don't seem out of place, either. However, if you are watching 'Loving and Laughing', you're not looking for Oscar material anyway. 5/11

-Shock Value: There are no major shockers. Not even the scene with the limo, towards the end. I expected better from that scene, I have to admit. 1/8

-Nudity: Every actress, who is slightly attractive, removes part of her clothes at some point. So, I didn't even bother to keep track of who gets naked. There is, though, a really big gap between a whole lot of nudity in the beginning and a lot of nudity at the end. 6/6

-Genre: This is an adventure film. 2/4

-->Overall: 39/100

If you consider this a nudie flick, and only want to see some '70s goodies, then it may seem better to you. I felt this was made as an adventure film, so... From Swordlord, 1 sword down!

From the waning daze of hippiedom comes this good-natured nude frolic of pot smoking, skinny dipping, group sex, French lessons (take a guess, you'll be wrong), and dope busts. Pretty boppers (mostly nude) and male hipsters (a lot less nude) do their own thing in their own time on a Quebec commune and in a Vermont mansion.

A while back I saw an early 1970s Montreal film called "Gina" that I really enjoyed. This same channel showed other late 1960s and early 1970s French Canadian films which I decided to tape. I must say I loved them all: "Loving and Laughing" being the best of the bunch. The others included "Valerie", "The Awakening", "Two Women in Gold" and "Love in a Four Letter World". "Loving and Laughing" is about an upper-class, young name named Reggie (played by one-time actor Gordon Fisher) who is enlisted to help a family friend's daughter in Vermont learn French over the summer. The only problem is that Reggie's car dies on the way south and he is then taken on by a travelling group of hippies escaping the law. Reggie is the straight-laced type who at first interacts rather uneasily with his hippie counterparts. But soon he learns to bond with his new friends and actually becomes a leader in their commune. The former leader of the commune is played by the great Andre Lawrence (of "Love in Four Letter World" fame). His name is Luciean Leplame- a wanted drug infringement criminal. Both he and Reggie hatch a plan to cover up their tracks. Soon Lucien is headed for Vermont instead of Reggie to teach French lessons. The fun is only just beginning for both young men. There is lots of nudity in this film and some subtle slapstick as well. I would consider this movie a comedy for sure. They only real drawback with this film and the others would have to be what appears to be voice-overs. In reality, the voices are the actual actors voices (in English) but the tracking is a bit off. As well, the actors voices don't seem to be presented in a proper acting tone. They seem to be very loud and over-the-top. I wonder if this was done for a reason? Anyway, for me, the scripts in all of them are wonderful and the lines have a deeper meaning than than the actual acting. Louise Blondin (of "Adventures in Rainbow Country") appears as one of the young, commune babes, but she is uncredited. This may have been her only film as I don't believe she was heard from again.