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A struggling American painter in Paris (Dick Van Dyke) fakes his death so his paintings will sell. His buddy (James Garner) helps him along. However Van Dyke's girlfriend (Angie Dickinson) believes he's dead and falls for Garner. Then there's Elke Sommer (who's great) as an innocent down on her luck girl and Ethel Merman as a madam (in a wholesome PG sort of way).

Frantic and somewhat amusing comedy. It moves at a fast clip and has a great cast. The main problem is that it just isn't that funny. Dickinson fainting at everything gets old real quick and Garner is a real jerk. However I kept watching and the fast pace kept me interested. This was not a hit when it came out and is kind of difficult to see now. Look for it on TCM.

Pretty mid-1960s sex comedy set in Paris, filmed on Universal's back lot, but extremely well faked. It's a rather dark-hearted farce about two buddies, an artist (Dick Van Dyke) and writer who doesn't write much (James Garner) who fake Van Dyke's death to raise the price of his paintings. That in itself is pretty tired satire, and it gets more tired when we're introduced to the two men's ladies, a suicidal local girl (Elke Sommer) and Van Dyke's wealthy fiancee (Angie Dickinson), who faints a lot and gets passed between the two guys like a soda. There's also a cabaret-owner-and-probable-madam (Ethel Merman in a series of bizarre wigs), a Jewish deli owner (Irving Jacobson), a fervent private investigator (Pierre Olaf), and a fair amount of slapstick. Van Dyke's expert and does some cute pratfalls; Garner, playing a real rotter, is atypically shrill and charmless. Dickinson hasn't much to offer but a series of eye-popping fashions, and Sommer is unaffected and delightful. A few laughs, but Carl Reiner and Norman Jewison, having recently delivered "The Thrill of It All," were capable of far better.

This one needs to be out on DVD, with all the violent stuff Hollywood is putting out nowadays, this needs to come out so that we can laugh again. As one other poster commented, PLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEE! get this one out. Dick Van Dyke is just hilarious and the way he gets back at his long time friend James Garner is terrific. They don't come up with plots like this in Hollywood anymore. I hope more people can get their votes out on this fabulous movie. Its one of the classics that has been forgotten again, just like some of Danny Kayes classics like "KNOCK ON WOOD" or "MERRY ANDREW" or Bob Hope's "OFF LIMITS".

What a cute movie! I thought it was going to be enormously silly, but I ended up really liking The Art of Love and laughing all the way through. Dick Van Dyke and James Garner seem to really enjoy playing up their comic elements, and their energies balanced each other well. With the romantic setting of Paris as its backdrop, the movie can take off on any number of ridiculous situations and it doesn't even feel ridiculous.

Dick is a starving artist, renting a room from his pal James. When they get drunk and muse about how if Dick committed suicide, his paintings would sell like hotcakes. Dick falls in the river, James can't find him, and the hypothetical appears to have come true. All of a sudden, his paintings do sell like hotcakes! But Dick has to stay hidden, so he seeks refuge in a burlesque run by Ethel Merman. As he battles his attraction to new employee Elke Sommer, James falls for Dick's fiancé, Angie Dickinson.

Believe it or not, that's the simple version of the plot. This Carl Reiner screenplay is very funny, with jokes around every corner and surprises no matter how much you think you know what's going to happen. The humor is a perfect element of tongue-in-cheek, obvious set-ups, and classic situational comedy. There's even a throwback to A Tale of Two Cities with the crazy old lady crying "guillotine!" Try this one out if you like the two leads, even if you think it might be too silly. It won't be, and it'll keep you laughing from start to finish.

This is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, and I can not, for the life of me, understand why it STILL isn't out on Tape or DVD. Its premise is hysterical and the acting is pure Academy Awards! Especially the old lady who sits by the Guillotine and cackles nothing but "Guillotine! Ha Ha Ha! Guillotine!" I swear; everyone in this film is GREAT! James Garner; Dick Van Dyke; Elke Sommer: Angie Dickinson; They're all hysterical, and the last 15 or 20 minutes of the film is is a total riot! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE, Hollyweird Moguls, Get this one out to us!!!! With all the celluloid effluvia out nowadays, let's get this CLASSIC out as soon as possible!!!