La fille en rouge

Wilder's best loved comedy. It's nice to see him behind the camera also in this witty picture about a man enthralled by this model of beauty, played sumptuously by LeBrock, only to find that there's more to loving someone than just a great body. Wilder performs some of his finest screwball comedy and is given great support from Grodin, Ivey, Bologna and Gilda Radner. Stevie Wonder's song is also catchy and adds plenty of flavor to a fun romantic-comedy.

"The Woman in Red" is Gene Wilder's somewhat sloppy comedy that's a remake of the 1977 French movie "Pardon Mon Affaire". Wilder did triple duty on this film. He not only stars but also wrote and directed the picture. As a writer and director, he does a so-so job. This movie has alot of silly moments that are totally preposterous. And it contains a few laughable lines of dialogue. But "The Woman in Red" for the most part is a pretty funny film. Wilder is good as Teddy Pierce, a married man who one day see's a beautiful woman wearing a red dress. After catching a glimpse of this woman, he becomes obsessed with her, and can't get her out of his mind. Wilder gets some good support from an exceptional cast which includes Charles Grodin, Joseph Bolonga, Judith Ivey, Kelly LeBrock (as The Woman in Red), and of course Wilder's late wife, Gilda Radner. "The Woman in Red" ain't a great comedy, but a good one. Only if Wilder had done a better directing job this would have been a great farce.

*** (out of four)

Saw this when I was pretty young. I just remember Kelly being gorgeous, and the Pantene lady in a movie. Is it comedy? Not really. It's just a bunch of middle aged guys messing around, but there's Gilda Radner too! Love her. They sort of even out the cheating thing with his wife messing with her daughter's bf. Flirty.

Teddy Pierce (Gene Wilder) works in a San Francisco ad agency and finds himself on a ledge wondering what went wrong. Four weeks previous, he sees the woman in red Charlotte (Kelly LeBrock) doing the Seven Year Itch dance in the parking lot. He tries to make a date with her despite being happily married to Didi (Judith Ivey) with kids. Miscommunication leads to Ms. Milner (Gilda Radner) getting the call who assumes that she's going on the date. His womanizing friend Joey (Joseph Bologna) loses his wife who takes everything. He continues with plans for the affair anyways while the guys Buddy (Charles Grodin) and Mikey take Joey for a night out. He has second thoughts and stands up Ms. Milner while Charlotte doesn't even know who he is.

There is no redeeming Teddy's antics but Gene Wilder gets a few good laughs in. I love Gilda Radner in this when she takes it out on Gene. The movie works best when Teddy gets put down. It doesn't work as much knowing he's lying to his wife. This movie should have more misadventures and hitting Teddy's nuts.

Hard to believe, but this movie is over 20 years old!! While not a great movie, its rating on IMDb seems to be a bit low. I think it deserves a "6" or a "7".

Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman) was 50 here when he played Teddy Pierce, an otherwise normal married man who catches a glimpse of temptation in the beautiful form of Charlotte, played by shapely Kelly LeBrock, 23. A perfect older man/younger woman attraction, not unlike "10" with Dudley Moore. In real life, an attraction such as this almost always ends a split second after it begins. Teddy was a typical, frumpy middle aged man, and Charlotte a slim, beautiful young woman. But the funny begins when Charlotte actually reciprocates the attraction.

Perhaps the most memorable scene, they end up at her place in the daytime, he ends up on the ledge outside the window, attracting a big crowd who think he wants to kill himself, when Charlotte's young and virile husband comes home unexpectedly. His family see him on TV and the rest plays out in a very funny manner.

Charles Grodin is very good as Buddy, the homosexual friend of Teddy's, and has to save the moment at a surprise party where Teddy is with Charlotte. In all an entertaining movie, nothing more. Kelly LeBrock started out as a model, and we can see why. However, she wasn't much of an actress and that shows in her later work. Nothing much to write about.

A bit of trivia, Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner were both single during filming in late 1983, a year later they married each other, so that tells us a lot about what went on during making this movie.

FEB 2025 update: Just watched it again, after 20 years, streaming on Prime. Entertaining romp, much of it seemed fresh.