They All Laughed
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Movie Reviews of They All Laughed
Movie Review: Charm...and lots of it
Summary: 4 Stars
A wonderful light romantic comedy to pass the time. John Ritter and Audrey Hepburn stand out as the brilliant talents they were.Movie Review: Pastiche of Romantic Complications in Manhattan Offers an Ever Graceful Hepburn
Summary: 3 Stars
There is a certain French farcical charm, however calculated, about director Peter Bogdanovich's 1981 urban valentine to romantic entanglements in Manhattan; but just released on DVD a quarter-century later, the film still feels half-baked in execution. Perhaps because Bogdanovich has too innate a familiarity with Hollywood's golden era, there is just too much pastiche and not enough depth to the shenanigans of three private eyes, their put-upon boss and the various women with whom they intertwine most predictably. The characters come in and out of this omnibus tale like Robert Altman's "Nashville" and Jean Renoir's "Rules of the Game", but the results are not nearly as resonant.
Unfortunately, the movie was jinxed immediately when co-star Dorothy Stratten, who became romantically involved with Bogdanovich during filming, was infamously murdered by her husband right after its completion. If the film was meant as the director's launching pad for Stratten as he did previously for Cybill Shepherd in "The Last Picture Show", he is only partially successful this time as the pretty starlet makes a comparatively modest impression as Dolores, the innocent object of obsession for bumbling detective Charles. These two are part of a larger ensemble, which includes Arthur, a long-haired shamus constantly on roller skates, and John, the veteran investigator who finds himself drawn to Angela Niotes, the possibly philandering wife of an Italian industrialist.
Bogdanovich had the good fortune of casting Audrey Hepburn, in her last feature film starring role, as Angela. Even though her story does not even get going until an hour into the movie, a fiftyish Hepburn looks radiantly stylish and is the epitome of resigned grace as an unhappily married woman. In an apparent nod to Bogie, Ben Gazzara performs too close to the vest as world-weary John, while a young, bespectacled John Ritter seems to regale in all his slapstick business as the smitten Charles. Less successful are Blaine Novak as the overly hip Arthur, model Patti Hansen (long since married to Rolling Stone Keith Richards) as bromide-spouting taxi driver "Sam", and a particularly unctuous Colleen Camp as motor-mouthed country singer Christy Miller insinuating herself into everyone else's lives.
Much like a Jacques Demy film ("The Young Girls of Rochefort" comes immediately to mind), the plot unfolds after a long wordless introduction, and character motivations get filled in on an as-needed basis until the film gains some gravitas and then whimpers away. On the DVD's main extra, Bogdanovich states emphatically that this is the favorite of his films in an interview conducted with director Wes Anderson, who also admires the film (as does Quentin Tarantino, who makes it one of his top ten in "Halliwell's Top 1000" book). The details of the location shooting are interesting, as much was done on a modest scale with a minimum of extras, and Bogdanovich gratefully does not belabor the sensationalistic aspects of Stratten's death. He also provides a solid commentary track, and the print transfer on the DVD is relatively clean. I'm not sure the film is completely worthy of rediscovery in a vaunted 25th Anniversary Edition except for Hepburn's near-valedictory work and any lingering curiosity about Stratten.
Movie Review: A Work In Progress.....
Summary: 3 Stars
They All Laughed is one of those movies that seems a great idea on paper, but what ends up on the screen just doesnt quite jell. A story about a trio of NY private eyes who fall for their "prey" seems fraught with posssibilities, but the story just never takes off anywhere. The movie just ambles along (quite pleasantly) without much direction. It allmost seems deliberately underwritten. Characters are thinly sketched, and we find out little about them or given much reason to care what happens to them. That is a shame, because the film has a great visual look (beautiful photography by Robby Mueller) and NY is as big a star in the movie as any of the actors and seldom has looked better. Top billed Audrey Hepburn is allmost criminally underused here in her last starring movie role, she has probably the least screen time of any of the principal players and its asking a lot of the viewer to buy that she'd risk having a fling with Ben Gazzara, as the man hired to keep an eye on her (it doesnt help that Gazzara has all the appeal here of a block of ice!). Likewise, Dorothy Stratten isnt given much reason to fall for goofball John Ritter who is her stalker. If you can get past all that illogic, the movie is fun up to a point. A pleasant trifle, that could have been so much more with a better script. A film like Nashville also had a large cast (a much bigger one), yet managed to involve us with characters that seemed real and fleshed out. Here, we never really get to know anyone well, particularly the women. There are laughs (primarily from klutzy Ritter, frenetic Colleen Camp and womanizing Blaine Novak who's too busy propositioning women to fall for anyone); but the story really doesnt go anywhere. Bogdanovich seems to be aiming for a Gallic romantic farce, but the wit and charm to sustain the story just isnt there. From a girl watching point of view, I give this an A. Hepburn looks like a million bucks, Stratten has a luminescent out of this world quality and Patti Hansen has to be the sexiest cab driver in the Big Apple. But from an entertainment standpoint, I give it a C+. Seen 25 years later the film is a nice snapshot of NYC at a moment in time (before AIDS changed everything) but has a haunting quality as so many of the principals (Stratten; Hepburn; Ritter) died way before their time. There is a nice interview with Bogdanovich included. The movie never found its way into much of a release at the time due to much bad luck, but maybe it will have a second life for home viewers.Movie Review: Good Movie But Bad DVD Release
Summary: 3 Stars
I was really looking foward to this DVD after owning the VHS version.
However, what nobody mentioned is there is NO available English subtitles in this DVD release!!! It is a major problem in this movie. You see, when a conversation is struck up in this movie it moves at very rapid speed, with tons of pretentious and inconsequential banter...and all mumbled. Too bad one will never understand it without ENGLISH subtitles. The biggest joke is you can select French and Spanish subtitles. Like this movie was a big hit overseas...hahahaha.
Movie Review: No, We Didn't
Summary: 1 Stars
If you're not a film buff, then this film has zero entertainment value. Otherwise, I enjoyed the generous cinematic helpings of New York City--really wonderful stuff--including views out of not-so-clean windows during interior shots. I've rarely seen the Statue of Liberty at such a distance, sharing the horizon with docks and construction cranes. There's a lot going on here connected to trivia (but not a lot going on in the film itself or with the script, which is simply awful). What's going on with the trivia? This is Audrey Hepburn's last feature film (an easy payday for her ((I mean, what Hepburn did in the film is what I did yesterday when I walked to the corner and back)) but at least she didn't embarrass herself); the fact that "They All Laughed" is a poignant film record of the soon-to-be murdered Playboy Bunny Dorothy Stratten; John Ritter at work (during the height of his "Three's Company" fame); the pairing of fellow actors and former lovers, Ben Gazzara and Audrey Hepburn; the fact that the director was having an affair with Dorothy Stratten; the fact that the director, after Stratten's murder, bought the negative to the film and paid for its distribution in theaters; the fact that it bombed terribly due to the public's negative reaction to the scandal of the off-screen love triangle; the fact that this film ended the director's career--not as a filmmaker but--as one of Hollywood's powerhouse directors. Finito. Pretty interesting trivia for a single film. One of the two writers that created this mess also acts and turns in a pretty good performance as a doofus hipster. Furthermore, this movie is based on two previous films, both entitled, "L'Ronde," which were based on an 1897 play, if my facts are correct. 1970s supermodel Patti Hansen fights a valiant but losing battle with her cab driver's insipid character and stupid lines. Every time Ben Gazzara appeared on screen I felt the impulse to reach for an inhaler as his presence sucked the air out of my small room. John Ritter's then-charming physical comedy talents are over-used and not to good effect: Oops! He tripped (again!) Ohhh! I can't believe he bumped into that table! (Boy, I didn't see THAT coming!)...Etc. The story becomes so tedious--what with all the bumping-into's, walking, stalking, hiding, peeking, signaling--that during one of the interminable crossing-the-street scenes I prayed that John Ritter, Blaine Novak and Ben Gazzara, would be creamed by a New York City bus! Oh! I haven't even mentioned the soundtrack. That's a whole separate disaster. Several times I took off my headphones and looked around to see if someone else had turned on a stereo. Sometimes the soundtrack was loud--in the foreground above the dialogue. Sometimes it was low--in the background. Sometimes there was no music. Sometimes there were back-to-back songs. The Director's Playlist! And all the songs had lyrics, and those lyrics were intended to underscore a theme that was being founded at that moment. Sometimes it was Frank Sinatra. Sometimes it was Johnny Cash. Halfway through the movie Frank Sinatra starts crooning, "They all laughed...." Brilliant! I get it! This movie really IS a stinker! Honestly, it would have been more entertaining (and more enlightening) had the director appeared at these critical junctures holding white poster board displaying a message written in MagicMarker: "See this couple? See how they're reacting to each other? This will become important later. Now, back to my film." I knew what to expect with this movie so I watched it off and on over the course of a weekend while going through boxes of papers. Otherwise I never would have forgiven myself for the waste of time. THE END.