The Ladies Man

So-so comedy whose best feature is its production design, especially the famed doll's house which was quite inventive and elaborate for its time. Lewis' mugging is pretty tiresome throughout, and there is a definite dearth of laughs, despite Lewis working overtime. Perhaps that's the problem: it all feels so laboured and forced, from the sets to the performances, lacking the spontaneity and freshness of films like The Bellboy or the ambition of The Patsy.

Well, i still can't say that i'm completely on board with Lewis yet, but i can at least sort of admire this in places. The famous set is admittedly impressive, and i can even appreciate some of the jokes, but mostly i think it works best when it's just kind of random and bizarre more than when it's actually trying to be funny. Like, why does this idiot man-child wear gaudy pinky rings?

If you like Jerry Lewis and find him funny, you'll probably like this. I don't, and didn't. The Loony Tunes physics and logic don't work very well here and the humor just doesn't work for modern eyes, or at least for me. More annoying than funny with only one or two smile worthy lines. The set is cool, but this one's a chore.

The set was genuinely impressive. Jerry Lewis was genuinely annoying.

the part with the hat had me dyin

I think Jerry Lewis was an odd guy. I genuinely like him and think he's a very talented physical comedian who uses his voice extremely well. I also think most of the material he does is pretty bad ... and this movie is packed full of awful jokes and terrible material. It takes place in a huge house, which is an incredible set that was built for a then record amount of money, and it has to be seen. It's a strange, fourth wall breaking construct that virtually makes the whole film.

The hat scene is one of the funniest things ever put on film.

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

A capacidade de filmar do Jerry Lewis é tremenda e gloriosa, mas definitivamente não gosto do estilo de comédia dele.

Inventive directing, but not really funny as I'm guessing was the intention.

"A bizarre, sexually ambiguous, cantankerously skeptical burlesque on the ascent of feminine independence." - Eric Henderson

I wouldn't blame anyone for hating Jerry Lewis with a passion, but his insane antics and over-the-top mugging makes me laugh. Besides Lewis, the centerpiece of this film is the mammoth set, a lavishly impressive playground for Lewis to frolic in. The story is just a springboard for a series of slapstick routines and the occasional surreal dance number. When it's not funny, it grinds to a halt, but when it is funny, it's a riot. I can't deny that it's stupid humor, but it's my kind of stupid.

This isn't my type of comedy at all, relying a whole lot on clumsiness and wacky voices from Lewis. Even so, it does have a lot of creativity and did get a reasonable amount of laughs from me.

970

If you don't expect any laughs this is great. I don't find Jerry Lewis especially funny, but I can't deny that he knows his way around a camera.

The girl in black, in a forbidden room, gives moody twist for the funny lapstick humour.