Friday, February 24, 2023

Movie review - "Phffttt" (1954) ***

 Famously odd title from an unproduced George Axelrod play. It's a comedy of remarriage, starting with Jack Lemmon and Judy Holliday getting divorced, going off to have adventures (he with Kim Novak, she with Jack Carson) before winding back together.

The two stars are charming even if director Mark Robson maybe isn't king of comedy. Some lovely stuff like Holliday being asked out by one of the stars of her radio soap (she's a writer) - we think it's a seduction but it's actually pitching writing out his co star who he loathes.

Novak has a gift of a role as a ditz who Carson sets up with Lemmon, a slightly crazy type - the sort of scene-stealing part that Holliday would've knocked out of the park. She can't really do it - she tries, she's got charisma, but she can't really act. It's endearing in a way, like a lot of Novak performances.

I didn't buy that the couple would get together at the end - I mean, they got divorced for a reason - but there's a lot of talent in the cast and the script has some great moments, like Lemmon realising wanting to read a book was why he got divorced and then not wanting to read the book.

No comments: