Henry (Walter Matthau), having squandered his large inheritance, his butler advises him that his only remedies are either suicide or marrying for money. The first option is less appealing to Henry so he quickly searches for a likely candidate--and finds Henrietta (Elaine May).
This film is an example of what's sometimes called "comedy noir" in which undesirable acts or conditions set the stage for satire or laughs. Henry's an arrogant, completely self-centered man, profligate of his considerable inheritance, and seemingly never with any close emotional relationships. He risks taking out a very punitive short term loan to maintain his appearances as a man of considerable means with the aim of both quickly finding a wealthy woman to marry and then "doing her in."
He finds his ideal candidate/victim: Henrietta --- the only child of deceased parents, extremely wealthy, a botanical scientist, AND with almost NO social sense or grace. Henry quickly courts her, proposes, and they marry. Henry researches potential poisons while Henrietta is researching ferns. But suddenly, Henry realizes Henrietta's love for him has become as gratifying as her abundant money and he begins a transformation.
This film is liberally sprinkled with great (funny) one-liners and dialog; many people find it side-splitting hilarious. I chuckled some but neither Henry's extreme haughtiness nor Henrietta's "Asperger's"-like behavior was that funny to me nor such quick transformations believable.
My rating of 6 was possibly influenced by my career (clinical psychologist) working with disturbed people which may have lessened my appreciation? Most friends in non-therapeutic fields think it's extremely funny.
FWIW: Elaine May's (the director as well as co-star) original version of this film was 3 hours long which the studio found unacceptable so it was cut to its present length, eliminating 2 murders in the process. Elaine May was so dissatisfied with this cutting, she sought to have her name removed from the film credits. More about this can be found in IMDb's "Did You Know" Trivia for this film and/or look for this film's title on Wikipedia.
This film is an example of what's sometimes called "comedy noir" in which undesirable acts or conditions set the stage for satire or laughs. Henry's an arrogant, completely self-centered man, profligate of his considerable inheritance, and seemingly never with any close emotional relationships. He risks taking out a very punitive short term loan to maintain his appearances as a man of considerable means with the aim of both quickly finding a wealthy woman to marry and then "doing her in."
He finds his ideal candidate/victim: Henrietta --- the only child of deceased parents, extremely wealthy, a botanical scientist, AND with almost NO social sense or grace. Henry quickly courts her, proposes, and they marry. Henry researches potential poisons while Henrietta is researching ferns. But suddenly, Henry realizes Henrietta's love for him has become as gratifying as her abundant money and he begins a transformation.
This film is liberally sprinkled with great (funny) one-liners and dialog; many people find it side-splitting hilarious. I chuckled some but neither Henry's extreme haughtiness nor Henrietta's "Asperger's"-like behavior was that funny to me nor such quick transformations believable.
My rating of 6 was possibly influenced by my career (clinical psychologist) working with disturbed people which may have lessened my appreciation? Most friends in non-therapeutic fields think it's extremely funny.
FWIW: Elaine May's (the director as well as co-star) original version of this film was 3 hours long which the studio found unacceptable so it was cut to its present length, eliminating 2 murders in the process. Elaine May was so dissatisfied with this cutting, she sought to have her name removed from the film credits. More about this can be found in IMDb's "Did You Know" Trivia for this film and/or look for this film's title on Wikipedia.