Christopher Pride is an artist who could be leaving to Paris for a year, but he won't go without his fiancee Elizabeth Acord. But the thing is she is a psychiatrist who can't leave her three female patients who all have issues with men. So, he tries to solve these issues by pretending to be three different men. And one woman. I mean, what could go wrong? Three on a Couch (1966) is starred, produced and directed, but not written by, Jerry Lewis. And the first movie he did for Columbia after leaving Paramount Pictures behind. This movie also happens to be in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time, which I personally don't understand. I just saw this on Youtube, because I tend to see all the movies Mr. Lewis ever made, and pretty much liked what I saw. Sure this film has flaws, and Jerry certainly made better movies, but I found it rather entertaining. It starts pretty slowly but takes off when all these different characters by Lewis are introduced. We have the cowboy Ringo, the athlete Warren, the shy zoologist Rutherford and his sister Heather, who is one lovely lady. One funny scene is where he has to get rid of the woman's clothes fast. Kind of reminds me of what the great late Robin Williams did in Mrs. Doubtfire a few decades later. Also the karate scene is quite hilarious. And let's not forget the party scene, where he has to switch to different characters pretty rapidly. Jerry may steal the show, but other actors do solid work as well. Janet Leigh makes a great lady friend to Lewis. James Best is great as her colleague, Ben Mizer. The patients, Mary, Susan and Anna are played by Leslie Parrish, Mary Ann Mobley and Gila Golan and they're all wonderful. It's always nice to see Kathleen Freeman in a JL movie, and she's quite funny as Murphy. Same with Buddy Lester, who plays The Drunk here. Another familiar face is Fritz Feld, who is very good as The Attaché. Also Scatman Crothers can be seen in an uncredited role. All the Jerry Lewis fans should see this movie. Although it's not your typical Jerry Lewis picture and the comedy not quite so zany but I could say just zany enough.
Review of Three on a Couch
