Lovesick

Saul Benjamin (Dudley Moore) is a married therapist with a variety of patients and imaginary Sigmund Freud (Alec Guinness) in times of stress. His friend tells him that he's inappropriately obsessed with his patient. After his sudden death, he gets the referral to Chloe Allen (Elizabeth McGovern). She's a playwright and Ted Caruso (Ron Silver) is her lead actor with diva attitude.

Back in the day, I would see this as a fine minor rom-com. Dudley Moore was a comedic genius during this time. He's only mildly humorous in this one. Sir Alec Guinness is the funnier one. I was in love with McGovern and this was cute enough for me to like.

Watching it again in my old age, the red flags are waving very wildly. I can understand falling for the adorable McGovern. Those eyes will get you. It is highly inappropriate. I agree with him when he breaks up with her finally, but the psychiatrists' dinner is a mess. There is a basic problem with this premise that makes the silly little rom-com very awkward.

In his entrance scene, Dudley Moore shows himself to be structured, responsible, and no-nonsense. He gets to work early, asks his receptionist for any messages, and prepares his very tidy office for his first patient. As a therapist, he listens to people pouring out their unfixable, mostly small problems, and he never gets emotionally involved. He talks with a colleague, Wallace Shawn, who confesses that he's become obsessed with a young female patient. Wallace dies of a heart attack, and soon after, Dudley get a call from the aforementioned female patient asking for an appointment. The supposedly irresistible, enigmatic, vivacious, vibrant young woman is Elizabeth McGovern, who unfortunately plays her part very quietly. Since I couldn't see what was so tempting about her, I kept coming up with alternate plot twists that the story could have turned into: she was imaginary, she made a game of seducing all her therapists, it was all a dream so Dudley could warn Wallace before it was too late - but folks, just turn off your brains. It's just a little romantic comedy, nothing more. It is a bit quirky, but it's also pretty cute.

Alec Guinness has a very fun role as the spirit of Freud reincarnated in Dudley's imagination. Dudley can confess to his mentor analyst, John Huston, but the best advice comes from Freud, of course. Everyone seems to have a lot of fun making the movie (although Elizabeth seems determined to be as low-key about her enthusiasm as possible), including young, pre-discovered David Strathairn as a nutty homeless patient and Christine Baranski as a patient who constantly talks about sex. If you like your romances to have a little fantasy in them, or you'd like to see one of Dudley Moore's cuter movies, rent this forgotten '80s comedy.

I cannot believe that only two people have reviewed this movie. I would think that all Woody Allen fans would want to see a film written and directed by the co-writer of Sleeper, Annie Hall, and Manhattan. Also, I would think that there must be more Dudley Moore fans around. Moore made this when he was king of romantic comedies in the 1980's, with hits like "10" and "Arthur". He took the crown from George Segal, and was followed by Andrew McCarthy in the late 80's and John Cusack in the 1990's.

I movie is a bit slow, or seems that way today, but that's because everybody has been hooked on television series like "Friends" and "30 Rock" where there has to be a laugh every 15 seconds. The laughs come, but they arrive at a leisurely pace of about one a minute.

The movie makes fun of Freudian psychiatry, which has pretty much become a relic of the 20th century like walkmen and pong video games. Still, scenes like the one where Moore tries to tell Elizabeth McGovern that she has penis envy seem to work better today, when we all can agree that the theory is absurd.

Incidentally, McGovern has possibly never looked so seduction and beautiful as she does in this movie.

Many of the supporting cast members are good, including Larry Rivers, John Huston, Selma Diamond, Christine Baranski, and Alan King. Unfortunately, they all have small parts of just two or three short scenes.

My favorite Dudley Moore rom-com is Mickey and Maude, but this one runs a close second. Go out and buy it or download it online and give it a try.

If you want the kind of mood that this movie fails to achieve, go and watch Play It Again, Sam (1972), a movie brilliantly written but luckily, not directed by Woody Allen and more straight than Annie Hall. Annie Hall's success may be the biggest hint on why this loose borefest was made.

Dudley Moore and Elizabeth Mcgovern pairing have no chemistry and energy. Their straight performances clash with the comedic nature of the playful supporting cast. It's like characters of a different movie interacting with a funnier (but not much) one. Both performances are subpar especially Dudley's doozed minimal reactions to everything.

On a more technical note, the movie looks bad. VHS-level bad. Dull colors, insufficient lighting and blooming light sources everywhere, especially on the restaurant scene a distracting sunlight glare that even bleeds through Mcgovern head.

The soundtrack is the most carefully handled aspect of this movie, but still felt misplaced at some points.

I've watched this film at least once a year since it first came out on VHS (or was it Betamax?) It is hilarious. I can't think of a better cast for a comedy than we have here, all playing around the central Dudley Moore character. The jokes, both visual and verbal, are rich with irony and wit. ("What is this, egg salad?" is my personal favorite.) The love story is only a driver for a comedy mix of this wide array of bizarre characters: Dudley Moore, Alec Guinness, John Huston, David Stathairn, Wallace Shawn, Ron Silver and many more whose names you may not know but who's faces you'll recognize.

I was quoting a line from the film the other day and got to talking about it with a friend. That led me to do a search on IMDb. The 4.3 rating makes no sense to me at all. It has my "personal 10", as it is a movie I can watch again any time. After all these years it is just as funny as it was 30 years ago.