Redford and Fonda should get a kissy-face Oscar for the most lingering lip-smackers on movie record.
The comedy's premise reminds me of one of those WWII madcaps, where wartime conditions prompt an unlikely couple into quick marriage and barebones apartment. The idea's rich in comedic material so no wonder it keeps coming back. On their honeymoon, stodgy lawyer husband (Redford) is overwhelmed by sexy free-spirited wife (Fonda). She can't get enough kissy-face or sex, while he struggles between lawyerly duties and a burgeoning libido. Meanwhile, she oozes over their cramped apartment, six long flights up, while he's too smothered over to object. Things bumble along until complications take their toll.
I love it when goofy neighbor Boyer takes the married couple and Fonda's straight-laced mother (Natwick) to a run-down Albanian eatery. It may be seedy on the outside but on the inside it's a vibrant bohemian paradise. Of course, Fonda and Boyer are in their element, real swingers, while the two conventional types can barely endure. In fact, Redford's quiet discomfort as he sits at the noisy round table amounts to a triumph of low-key expression. And catch it when the belly dancer smothers his unhappy face in her ample breasts. Edelman also scores as the drooping telephone guy. It's like, time and again, he's having to climb Mt. Everest with a heavy load. In fact, the movie milks that 6-long-flights-up, but still gets laughs from a sweaty cast. I can imagine what the auditions were like.
Anyway, the movie's first two-thirds is full of such inventive comedic moments that had me thinking "real classic". But then, much too abruptly, Fonda's sparkly role shifts and the prevailing mood goes with it. Same thing with Redford's conventional personality. That is, he goes from stodgy to goofy and she goes from ditzy to crabby. In short, they suddenly swap roles in unconvincing fashion, even for what is now a serio-comedy. In my book, the change over is too clumsily handled to maintain comedic momentum, and a potential classic is lost. Nonetheless, on balance, the movie's still lively entertainment, full of bright moments, and worth catching up with.
(In passing- I suspect the moral to the story, if such can be said, is that without some common ground even the best offbeat relationship can't last.)
