What's New Pussycat

"A sports car…is a sign of man's virility. You should get two, maybe." - Peter Sellers, to Woody Allen

'What's New, Pussycat?' is not a great movie. There isn't much in the way of a plot, it's constructed haphazardly, and parts of it don't make a lot of sense.

That's part of its charm. 'The Pink Panther', from the same era, also has a large, recognizable, hugely talented cast, and it's a much more coherent, technically proficient film. It is also less funny.

Just in case you've never seen anything about the movie before: Peter O'Toole plays Michael, a magazine writer and philanderer in mid-1960's Paris. His dilemma (dramatic conflict, if you will) is Carol (Romy Schneider) a woman he loves so much he wants to be faithful to her, if indeed he can give up all other women and marry her. Other women include Paula Prentiss, Capucine, and Ursula Andress; Woody Allen is the friend with the not so secret crush on Carol. Michael's psychoanalyst is played by Peter Sellers, which should tell you about as much as you need to know.

WNP? has a mood, created in large part by the Bacharach score, that I don't want to call innocent because it tries so hard to be naughty, but there it is. The drug culture hadn't yet picked up the cultural grip released by post-50's paranoia, and a sloppy, silly picture like this seemed to be a good idea.

And that's enough of that; a movie that contains the line 'it's my wife – the creature that ate Europe' shouldn't be over-analyzed. Enjoy it for what it is.