The Woman in Red (1984)

Middle aged Teddy's whole life is turned upside down one Day when he spots the jaw dropping Charlotte. Married with kids, Teddy is prepared to risk everything to satisfy his infatuation with Charlotte.As has already been said by another reviewer, this is a film I was obsessed with growing up. It is so often the case that when you watch something later on in life that you enjoyed in childhood you are often left totally disappointed. I was so impressed by many elements of this film. Gene Wilder is utterly delightful, with such a twinkle in the eye, he's hopeless and entirely lovable. Kelly LeBrock is beauty personified, she does a fine job also. Gilda Rander, as always is perfect. Wonderful music courtesy of Stevie Wonder.It's funny, charming, has a lot going for it. 9/10

While this is an American film version of a foreign film, it seems more to be a rip-off of "10". Married Gene Wilder spots a beautiful woman (Kelly Lee Brock) and becomes obsessed with her. He basically spends 90 minutes humiliating himself, leading on a needy secretary (Gilda Radner, totally wasted), and making excuses to his devoted wife (Judith Ivey). Radner tries to be funny with her "Fatal Attraction" like revenge, but the material betrays her. Some good shots of mid 80's San Francisco and a series of pleasant songs by Stevie Wonder and Dionne Warwick (including the Academy Award Winning "I Just Called to Say I Love You") help make this a slight bit more tolerable, but the humor is juvenile, the set-up beyond believable, and the script (by Wilder) dull. A scene with one of Wilder's workers pretending to be blind in a restaurant and destroying it is a pale imitation of the similar scene in the W.C. Fields classic "It's a Gift" and totally out of place.As for LeBrock, she is certainly eye catching in the garage scene wearing the titular red dress, but is a beautiful block of ice otherwise. Wilder is a talented comic, but he seems to be holding back (strange considering he was directing himself speaking his own dialog!) and is definitely missing the partnership that shown on screen for him with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor in previous ventures. Radner, one of the funniest women since Lucy, deserved much better in the few films she made, and her presence is a total missed opportunity. Ivey would fare better on stage and in later character roles where she was truly able to let herself go. Joseph Bologna and Charles Grodin are even more wasted as Wilder's cronies. With talent like this, you expect so much more.

Let's be honest. This isn't a movie to take all that seriously, and it has to be evaluated on that basis. It's a bit of a thin storyline revolving around quiet ad executive Teddy's attempt to - well - get it on with the beautiful model Charlotte, in spite of the fact that he's happily married, and that Charlotte seems (at least at first glance) somewhat out of his league. Gene Wilder and Kelly Le Brock are the two main characters in this. Wilder was very good, and there were a lot of amusing scenes for him scattered throughout, and some fun moments of misunderstanding with his office colleague Ms Milner (played by Wilder's real-life wife Gilda Radner.) Even knowing that it's coming I can't help but laugh as Milner keys his car because she thinks he stood her up or sends him careening helplessly down one of San Francisco's hills or as he walks down the hall in his fancy new clothes and high fives a colleague with the words "What it is!" Wilder caught the character of Teddy - strangely drawn to Charlotte and yet knowing that he's a happy guy already with his wife Didi (Judith Ivey) and their daughters, and even as he pursues Charlotte, you can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he asks himself "why?" Le Brock (although playing the title character) was less central to the movie, which really revolved more around Teddy and his guy friends (played by Joseph Bologna, Charles Grodin and Michael Huddleston.) She was fine and certainly didn't detract from the movie at all, although I didn't think her performance was especially powerful either.The movie is a wonderful length - at 1:26 just perfect for a fun little comedy of no great importance. Not to be overlooked are some wonderful songs performed by Stevie Wonder and Dionne Warwick. The only part of the movie I really didn't care for had to do with the character of Shelly (Michael Zorek) - the punk boyfriend of one of Teddy's daughters. The character wasn't likable first of all, especially as he groped at Didi, and the character also served absolutely no purpose to the overall story. Aside from that, it is indeed a fun movie. (7/10)

The fine line between comedy and tragedy is on display in this picture. This is a truly vile film. Comedy? Not even close. The message of this film is that everybody's a lying cheat and will never learn from their mistakes. A truly tragic pronouncement.Maybe the language barrier affected this adaptation of its French source material. The cultural insulation films receive by way of subtitles might have made this sad mess hysterical. Find a print in which the actors speak Mandarin with English subtitles and let me know whether it's zany, OK? Never knew an alleged comedy could be so depressing.