He's a curmudgeonly mailman with a big vocabulary but no social skills or common sense. She's a bored suburban housewife with a bored husband and some children who may or may not actually exist. He hasn't yet figured out that his building was sold 6 years ago and his basement apartment is now being used for storage. She wants only to return to college to finish work on her baccalaureate.
The first half of this movie provides some wonderfully irreverent satire in its depiction of New York City as a benign dystopia. It has the feel of a 1960s beach movie turned into a sophisticated PG-rated urban sex romp. It occasionally falls flat in attempts to imitate the zaniness of Richard Lester films, but this doesn't detract from the clever humor.
The film weakens, however, after the inevitable meeting of the main characters. It's unfortunate that the writers had to resort to a plot device so ludicrous and offensive. The movie becomes mainly dialog driven beyond this point but the dialog just isn't good enough to support that and Eli Wallach's excellent Eric Von Zipper imitation eventually grows annoying. Nevertheless, the movie still has a few surprises to offer and the quick, merciful ending provides an oddly satisfying lack of conclusion.
The first half of this movie provides some wonderfully irreverent satire in its depiction of New York City as a benign dystopia. It has the feel of a 1960s beach movie turned into a sophisticated PG-rated urban sex romp. It occasionally falls flat in attempts to imitate the zaniness of Richard Lester films, but this doesn't detract from the clever humor.
The film weakens, however, after the inevitable meeting of the main characters. It's unfortunate that the writers had to resort to a plot device so ludicrous and offensive. The movie becomes mainly dialog driven beyond this point but the dialog just isn't good enough to support that and Eli Wallach's excellent Eric Von Zipper imitation eventually grows annoying. Nevertheless, the movie still has a few surprises to offer and the quick, merciful ending provides an oddly satisfying lack of conclusion.