The Stupids (1996)

A rare misfire for Wilder, but not an uninteresting one
Kiss Me, Stupid is an interesting misfire, but despite a promising and outrageous setup - Ray Walston's would be songwriter tries to keep Dean Martin's promiscuous crooner in the small town he breaks down in long enough to buy his songs by using his wife as bait: but, being insanely jealous, he hires Kim Novack to pretend to be his wife only to still find himself becoming jealous - it never really delivers the laughs. Walston, replacing Peter Sellers after he dropped out because of a heart attack, is too broad and Novak's Marilyn-with-a-cold impression too artificial, while Dean Martin's gleeful self-parody as a drunken lecherous and very superficial crooner called Dino sometimes seems a little too sidelined. Only Cliff Osmond really comes up with the goods with a performance that's often as theatrical as the patently phoney soundstage sets. Some nice moments, but this time Wilder and Diamond seem too enamoured of the censor-baiting premise to make it really work.

A politically incorrect movie, but an excellent screwball comedy
Director Billy Wilder is not a novice in making highly successful comedies. Movies such as: Some Like it Hot (1,2)(1959), Apartment (3) (1960), and Irma La Douce (4)(1963), made Wilder a very successful writer and director in Hollywood. Kiss Me, Stupid, starring Dean Martin and Kim Novak made in 1964 was received less warmly; conservatives still in control of American life were upset by the controversial story. The lead actor is actually Ray Walston who plays Orville Jeremiah Spooner, an organist at the local church and a piano teacher is jealous of his beautiful wife Zelda (Felicia Farr; wife of Jack Lemmon in real life). He is paranoid that she could attract another man and soon he may lose her. While coping with this fear, Orville also writes songs in his spare time with his buddy, local gas station owner, Barney (Cliff Osmond). As the luck would have it that Singing Dino of Las Vegas (Dean Martin) on his way from Vegas to Los Angeles makes a stop at Barney's gas station in Climax, Nevada. Orville and Barney quickly realize that they have the golden opportunity to use Dino to promote their songs. To keep Dino in Climax long enough, they concoct a story that his car needs a spare part which requires two days to arrive, and until then he could stay with Spooner. Initially excited about the idea but quickly turns into fear as Orville realizes that Dino is a drunkard, a seducer and the fact Zelda is his biggest fan, losing her to Dino was more closer than ever. So he hatches a plan to send his wife away to her parents, and hires Polly the Pistol (Kim Novak), a cocktail waitress at the local bar, Belly Button, to pretend to be his wife while he entertains Dino during his stay. The viewers get to see the "real life" of Dean Martin who pretty much plays as himself as a heavy drinker, and a womanizer who tries to seduce Polly (pretending as Zelda) in her own home in the presence of her "husband." Later he is thrown out of the house and ends up in Belly Button and later to the Trailer home of Polly located next to the bar. Circumstances would have placed Zelda already in the same Trailer when she moves from her parent's home to Belly Button to the Trailer home. It is a little shocking to the viewer, since director Wilder went a little far to show that both Dino and Zelda; and Orville and Polly, have sex, Dino pays for her service!!! The pair shrugs it off as an adventure, and Orville and Zelda get back together. In the climate of political correctness of today; director Wilder and the studio have portrayed the story honestly as what would be the most obvious under circumstances. But in 1964, political correctness was not appreciated and in fact the term did not exist. The film upset the Catholic Church and the Vatican's Legion of Decency banned the film. The film's opening scenes were shot during a live performance at the now defunct Sands Casino in Las Vegas. The customized Italian Ghia sports car driven by Martin in the film was also his own automobile. Originally Peter Sellers was slated to play the role Orville Spooner but due to his personal circumstances the role went to Walston. The movie is a little boring in the beginning but later becomes very interesting. Kim Novak appears in the movie after a third of the movie is completed, but her role as a girl under difficult circumstances in an unfortunate job, begins to like the life of Spooner, and dislikes the glitzy life of Dino; it is touching. Kim Novak is spectacular in her performance as Polly: Highly recommended to all her fans.

1. [[ASIN:B000FIHNAC Some Like It Hot (Collector's Edition)]]
2. [[ASIN:B00005A06N Some Like It Hot]]
3. [[ASIN:B00003CX8V The Apartment]]
4. [[ASIN:B00005LOLC Irma La Douce]]

A politically incorrect movie, but an excellent screwball comedy
Director Billy Wilder is not a novice in making highly successful comedies. Movies such as: Some Like it Hot (1,2)(1959), Apartment (3) (1960), and Irma La Douce (4)(1963), made Wilder a very successful writer and director in Hollywood. Kiss Me, Stupid, starring Dean Martin and Kim Novak made in 1964 was received less warmly; conservatives still in control of American life were upset by the controversial story. The lead actor is actually Ray Walston who plays Orville Jeremiah Spooner, an organist at the local church and a piano teacher is jealous of his beautiful wife Zelda (Felicia Farr; wife of Jack Lemmon in real life). He is paranoid that she could attract another man and soon he may lose her. While coping with this fear, Orville also writes songs in his spare time with his buddy, local gas station owner, Barney (Cliff Osmond). As the luck would have it that Singing Dino of Las Vegas (Dean Martin) on his way from Vegas to Los Angeles makes a stop at Barney's gas station in Climax, Nevada. Orville and Barney quickly realize that they have the golden opportunity to use Dino to promote their songs. To keep Dino in Climax long enough, they concoct a story that his car needs a spare part which requires two days to arrive, and until then he could stay with Spooner. Initially excited about the idea but quickly turns into fear as Orville realizes that Dino is a drunkard, a seducer and the fact Zelda is his biggest fan, losing her to Dino was more closer than ever. So he hatches a plan to send his wife away to her parents, and hires Polly the Pistol (Kim Novak), a cocktail waitress at the local bar, Belly Button, to pretend to be his wife while he entertains Dino during his stay. The viewers get to see the "real life" of Dean Martin who pretty much plays as himself as a heavy drinker, and a womanizer who tries to seduce Polly (pretending as Zelda) in her own home in the presence of her "husband." Later he is thrown out of the house and ends up in Belly Button and later to the Trailer home of Polly located next to the bar. Circumstances would have placed Zelda already in the same Trailer when she moves from her parent's home to Belly Button to the Trailer home. It is a little shocking to the viewer, since director Wilder went a little far to show that both Dino and Zelda; and Orville and Polly, have sex, Dino pays for her service!!! The pair shrugs it off as an adventure, and Orville and Zelda get back together. In the climate of political correctness of today; director Wilder and the studio have portrayed the story honestly as what would be the most obvious under circumstances. But in 1964, political correctness was not appreciated and in fact the term did not exist. The film upset the Catholic Church and the Vatican's Legion of Decency banned the film. The film's opening scenes were shot during a live performance at the now defunct Sands Casino in Las Vegas. The customized Italian Ghia sports car driven by Martin in the film was also his own automobile. Originally Peter Sellers was slated to play the role Orville Spooner but due to his personal circumstances the role went to Walston. The movie is a little boring in the beginning but later becomes very interesting. Kim Novak appears in the movie after a third of the movie is completed, but her role as a girl under difficult circumstances in an unfortunate job, begins to like the life of Spooner, and dislikes the glitzy life of Dino; it is touching. Kim Novak is spectacular in her performance as Polly: Highly recommended to all her fans.

1. [[ASIN:B000FIHNAC Some Like It Hot (Collector's Edition)]]
2. [[ASIN:B00005A06N Some Like It Hot]]
3. [[ASIN:B00003CX8V The Apartment]]
4. [[ASIN:B00005LOLC Irma La Douce]]