Muito Riso e Muita Alegria

This film is worth watching. Screwball comedy stylings brought up-to-date... ie 80's New York.

Perhaps this'll move some of you: it made Quentin Tarantino's list of his Top Ten Films of All-Time in 2002.

Screwball comedy about romantic mismatches in New York City. Peter Bogdanovich is obviously in love with all the women in his picture--he reveres them--yet Audrey Hepburn is (naturally) put a notch above the others because, after all, she's the princess Bogdanovich probably fell in love with at the movies 30 years prior. He shoots her in loving close-ups, gets right in the sheets between her and a wonderfully hard-boiled/soft-boiled Ben Gazzara, and allows her room to sparkle throughout. The love-connections made in the course of the film are fast and amusing, though I did tire of John Ritter's TV-styled klutziness. Colleen Camp, Dorothy Stratten, and the grounded, earthy-sensual Patti Hansen are all exciting to watch. But it's really Hepburn's valentine and she absolutely glows. *** from ****

There is a certain French farcical charm, however calculated, about director Peter Bogdanovich's 1981 urban valentine to romantic entanglements in Manhattan; but just released on DVD a quarter-century later, the film still feels half-baked in execution. Perhaps because Bogdanovich has too innate a familiarity with Hollywood's golden era, there is just too much pastiche and not enough depth to the shenanigans of three private eyes, their put-upon boss and the various women with whom they intertwine most predictably. The characters come in and out of this omnibus tale like Robert Altman's "Nashville" and Jean Renoir's "Rules of the Game", but the results are not nearly as resonant.

Unfortunately, the movie was jinxed immediately when co-star Dorothy Stratten, who became romantically involved with Bogdanovich during filming, was infamously murdered by her husband right after its completion. If the film was meant as the director's launching pad for Stratten as he did previously for Cybill Shepherd in "The Last Picture Show", he is only partially successful this time as the pretty starlet makes a comparatively modest impression as Dolores, the innocent object of obsession for bumbling detective Charles. These two are part of a larger ensemble, which includes Arthur, a long-haired shamus constantly on roller skates, and John, the veteran investigator who finds himself drawn to Angela Niotes, the possibly philandering wife of an Italian industrialist.

Bogdanovich had the good fortune of casting Audrey Hepburn, in her last feature film starring role, as Angela. Even though her story does not even get going until an hour into the movie, a fiftyish Hepburn looks radiantly stylish and is the epitome of resigned grace as an unhappily married woman. In an apparent nod to Bogie, Ben Gazzara performs too close to the vest as world-weary John, while a young, bespectacled John Ritter seems to regale in all his slapstick business as the smitten Charles. Less successful are Blaine Novak as the overly hip Arthur, model Patti Hansen (long since married to Rolling Stone Keith Richards) as bromide-spouting taxi driver "Sam", and a particularly unctuous Colleen Camp as motor-mouthed country singer Christy Miller insinuating herself into everyone else's lives.

Much like a Jacques Demy film ("The Young Girls of Rochefort" comes immediately to mind), the plot unfolds after a long wordless introduction, and character motivations get filled in on an as-needed basis until the film gains some gravitas and then whimpers away. On the DVD's main extra, Bogdanovich states emphatically that this is the favorite of his films in an interview conducted with director Wes Anderson, who also admires the film (as does Quentin Tarantino, who makes it one of his top ten in "Halliwell's Top 1000" book). The details of the location shooting are interesting, as much was done on a modest scale with a minimum of extras, and Bogdanovich gratefully does not belabor the sensationalistic aspects of Stratten's death. He also provides a solid commentary track, and the print transfer on the DVD is relatively clean. I'm not sure the film is completely worthy of rediscovery in a vaunted 25th Anniversary Edition except for Hepburn's near-valedictory work and any lingering curiosity about Stratten.

I don't know about you but I thought that this movie, which Bogdanovich claimed to have written for Audrey Hepburn was overall a pretty amateurish effort. The so-called 'screwball comedy' turned out to be a little annoying for me, especially the scenes with Colleen Camp (if she said the name Charles just one more time!) which was like watching a bad school play. Now, Dorothy Stratten looked a little distant in this, but was given sound advice by the director (to keep a close eye on Miss Hepburn) She was good looking and pretty shapely but beyond that...? Ben Gazzara does just what Bogdanovich did not want his actors to do..act like they were 'acting'. Hepburn had a mighty talent for being real, and when shes on screen you feel your money's worth. Gazzara, looking a little preoccupied in his scenes only shines when Audrey is on screen with him. John Ritter brings his usual comic relief with some pleasure, after enduring some of the very bad dialog (Bogdanovich claims some of the scenes were written on the spot while filming and you get a sense of that hurried effort in a bad way) In the end I will keep a copy of this flick for myself. I love Audrey and this was her last feature film. She still had the natural beauty and class that sets her millenniums apart from the other actresses in this flick. While you may not like this vehicle as Audrey's 'swan song' as it were, you will just love to have seen her again.

I maybe in the minority-I liked this movie. True it is somewhat odd and true it's not that well known but... I came upon it when flipping channels and started watching-it has to grow on you-I found, however, that this is a very unique and fun little pic and if you don't mind all the walking which is mite to make you a bit dizzy(so much walking) why not curl up and watch something different? It is the type of movie that sort of grows on you as you watch and it is not terribly fast moving but it's fun and if you love New York you'll love the metropolitan feel to this movie and the kookiness. It must have been fun to make this Movie and I wish more people knew about it. Check it out if your in the mood for something quirky and different and want to glimpse the big apple in all it's metropolitan glory.