There's a Girl in My Soup (1970)

While I have enjoyed Peter Sellers in a lot of films, this one really pulled me out of the mood when you see him early in the film without a shirt---and with COPIOUS amounts of back hair. While this might not be a problem in many films (or a boon if you are in one of the "Planet of the Apes" movies), here it made no sense, as Sellers was supposed to be a Lothario who attracts women like flies. I would think many women would just yell "Ewwww!!!" when they saw him shirtless and take them completely out of the mood. Sorry about the little diatribe....but a bit of Nair would have really helped him make the role more convincing.The film finds Sellers playing an upper-class man who has become famous as a TV chef--sort of like Graham Kerr in the 1960s. However, his greatest joy is not food but women--and his needs are very, very, very compulsive. Again and again, he scores but doesn't allow any of these women to get close to him. And, women fall for his lines one after another. However, when he meets a very young Goldie Hawn, he's finally met a woman who can see right through him--and he finds this very disarming. For once, he is not in control and she seems relatively immune to his wiles--anticipating his every move. Surprisingly, he soon finds himself actually falling for this lady...something he's never let himself do in the past. And, he even contemplates marrying her! But, while she likes him a lot...marriage just isn't in her plans.Despite its adult theme and cavalier attitude towards sex, I was intrigued by this film--mostly because it defies the usual stereotypes. It has very interesting characters as well--an interesting character study indeed--even if the ending seemed a tad abrupt.By the way, as the subject of this film is pretty adult, so is the film overall. There's a decent amount of nudity and you might want to consider this before watching or showing it to your mother-in-law or priest!

"My GOD but you're lovely."This is surely one of Sellers' most memorable characters. This guy HAS to have been a major influence on Austin Powers: he's an aging playboy, with hairy back and bad teeth, who never imagines that he's anything but irresistible to women. Goldie Hawn is the woman who won't give him what he wants when he wants it.The first hour is pure gold, some of the greatest comedy i've ever seen. Then it strangely begins to meander. Really badly. With the extended wine tasting journey, involving many pointless shots of Frenchmen drinking wine at what seems like a real wine tasting ceremony, and later on the pointless shots of scenery, very out of place in this story. I was thinking what terrific characters they were, and what a terrific comedy set-up we had here - but at the point where it starts to wonder, you realise that they'd only thought up these funny characters - but hadn't got as far as what to do with them. Thus, they also had no idea what the resolution, if any, should be. They seem to have figured that everything would work itself out once they started shooting - well, it didn't. The last half-hour is an absolute mess. I would have enjoyed it much more as a 60 minute movie, thankyou very much. As it is, we have a clumsy "resolution" scene that needed about seven re-writes, and a rather meandering, almost unnecessary last half-hour, peppered with a few good scenes (Sellers carrying Hawn over his shoulder in the lift), which unfortunately spoils what might have been one of the funniest movies i've ever seen. 6/10. The first hour is an absolute gem - i'd still recommend you see it for that.

Annoying, static comedy with a painfully miscast Peter Sellers as a smarmy, self-centered Casanova who always has his way with the ladies. A major blemish on Sellers' filmography, and, even worse, a film that seems to have been made solely to satisfy the ego of its star. (*)

Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn team for a kooky romantic comedy...and it's a wash-out? Despite a few pithy, funny one-liners, this May-September romance doesn't go anywhere or give the actors anything special to do. British womanizer Sellers goes back and forth verbally with new 'bird' Hawn before they decide they like each other. London's mod phase must have been petering out around this time, as "There's a Girl in My Soup" has a shabby appearance, with colorless color photography, boring costumes and sets. Even Peter's bachelor pad is mundane. Lots of (disparate) talents involved, yet Terence Frisby's script, adapted from his play, doesn't really make a movie. Most of the jabbering about relationships is eternally fatigued, with a clinker for every laugh. ** from ****