Un chef de rayon explosif

"Who's Minding the Store?" is a movie that is so stupid its funny. This film contains scenes that are incredibly dim-witted. Other scenes are dumber than dumb. But I found myself laughing at what was going on. I haven't seen alot of Jerry Lewis movies with the exception of a few including this one. "Who's Minding the Store?" stars Lewis as Norman Pfeiffer, a hapless young man who works as a poodle dog walker and animal sitter. He is engaged to be married to a lovely young woman named Barbara played by Jill St. John (before she became a Bond woman in "Diamonds Are Forever"). Barbara works at a department store as an elevator operator. One day she goes to visit Norman while dog-sitting, and she breaks the news to him that her bosses want Norman to come work at the store. Norman is thrilled to get the chance to work close to his girl, and (foolishly) accepts the job. However, what Barbara doesn't know is that this is a scheme by her mother Phoebe Tuttle (played by "Bewitched" star Agnes Moorehead), who just happens to be the store owner. Phoebe is not happy one bit that her daughter is engaged to this imbecile. So she orders the store manager Mr. Quimby (Ray Walston) to give Norman the hardest, most impossible jobs to do so that he'll quit his new job and hopefully end up breaking off his engagement to Barbara. The jobs that Norman does in this film are unbelievable, and in the process ends up turning the store upside down into a disaster area. I laughed, and laughed, and laughed, at the stupidity of what went on and I couldn't help it. This movie cracks me up (interesting, because 20 years after Lewis made this he made a movie titled oddly enough "Cracking Up"). I feel kind of guilty admitting that I like this film, but I did.

*** (out of four)

TEX AVERY in flesh and blood, that was Jerry Lewis for me, who usually hates comedies. But here, it is an absolute must see, directed by a very inspired Frank Tashlin, one of the Hollywood comedy magicians, especially for "visual" comedies. With Jerry Lewis, they fit together as Lon Chaney Sr with Tod Browning or Alain Delon and Lino Ventura with Jean-Pierre Melville. The magic formula, fantastic recipe which the result can be seen with this film. The ending could be seen as some kind of satire of the consumerism, modern consumerism. I guess it was shown in the Soviet Union, to criticize the American way of life. And I was very amused by one of the character's name: Quimby; a tribute, for me, to Fred Quimby, the famous TEX AVERY cartoon creator.

Norman Phiffier (Jerry Lewis) is a bungler young whose previous jobs include that of caddy , TV repairman, and Paramount Theater usher. Barbara (Jill St. John) is a very rich girl posing as an elevator-girl and falls in love with Norman . He now works as a store clerk in a large department store. Clumsy and inept, he set loose in store and can't do anything right . Boy are they in trouble . But , Barbara's mother (Agnes Morehead) doesn't want her daughter to marry such a poor man.

Amusing and spasmodic comedy with the genius comic Jerry Lewis acting in his stereotyped role by relinquishing creative control and concentrating on humor based on destruction and wreak havoc , nice inventive bits , skilfully combining the entertainment with the amusement. It features quick editing , wild and outrageous gags , and extremely odd angles. Enjoyable film with characters genuine and sympathetic , it is plenty of humor , tongue-in-cheek , side-splitting sight gags and amusement . Director Frank Tashlin introduces cinematic especial techniques in animated cartoon style , such as odd camera angles, montage and quickly paced editing , as some shots lasting only five frames long . Jerry Lewis is top-notch playing a botcher and meek store clerk ; Jerry played similar character as a bumbling idiot in other films such as a caddy in ¨The Caddy¨ and a TV repairman in both ¨Rock-a-Bye Baby¨ and ¨It's Only Money¨. The co-starring role stands out Jill St. John , surely the most gorgeous girl any clerk ever had . Excellent support cast formed by likable secondaries as Ray Walston as Mr. Quimby , John McGiver as Mr. John P. Tuttle and special mention to Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Phoebe Tuttle . Furthermore , watch rapidly to veteran Kathleen Freeman . Colorful and shimmer cinematography in Technicolor by Wallace Kelley and catching musical score .

The motion picture was well directed by Frank Tashlin , one of the few directors to successfully make the transition from animation to live-action , as he directed his cartoons like live-action films and his live-action films like cartoons . He directed various vehicles for Jerry Lewis as ¨The Geisha boy¨, ¨Hollywood or Bust¨ , ¨Rock-a-Bye Baby¨ , ¨Cinderfella¨ and for Bob Hope as ¨The son of Paleface¨ . Who's minding the store ? is considered to be one of his best films . Rating : 6,5 . Entertaining and amusing movie that it will appeal to Jerry Lewis fans . Worthwhile watching .

This is one of the funniest films in the career of Jerry Lewis. This film can pretty much be seen as a series of vignettes as Norman bounces around from department to department as he tries to earn enough money to marry the woman he loves. Also, the rest of the cast give solid performances especially John McGiver, Ray Walston and Agnes Moorehead. Walston is great as the weasel of a store manager who does everything he can to break Norman. McGiver is outstanding as Mr. Tuttle who in the process of the film turns from a milquetoast to a tiger as he finally stands up to his wife, Phoebe. However, Agnes Moorehead is perfect as Phoebe Tuttle and she pretty much plays a mortal version of Endorra, the character she would play less than a year later on "Bewitched".

However, the one negative criticism of the film that I have is the fact that like what a couple of other commentators said was the fact that this film is pretty much takes great joy in bashing women. Other than that this is a great film.

I saw this movie at a Sunday matinee in 1963. The movie was so funny that the mere memory of that movie was enough to get me laughing. And I got sent to the principal's office as a result. So you can say that Jerry Lewis got me in trouble in school!

Jerry Lewis is an incompetant errand boy who is engaged to the store owner's daughter. But to get him out of the daughter's life, the store owner turns the screws on the engagement by assigning him the worst jobs. The store owner then moves him from one department to another, leaving massive chaos and destruction everywhere he goes.

The results are hilarious enough. But the aftermath of his time in the appliance department, alone, is worth watching the movie alone. It left me laughing so hard that I had stomach cramps!

I saw the movie again many years later and it was second childhood all over again.