...and so is "Luv". What might've been a mod, madcap romantic comedy is just an exercise in shouting (you'll never forget that Jack Lemmon plays "Harry"--it's all you hear from the other performers). A suicidal man is brought down from a bridge-railing by an old school friend who has other plans for the guy: fix him up with his unhappy wife so he can marry a fitness enthusiast. The story certainly had satiric possibilities, few of which are realized. One is tempted to put the blame for this mess on Lemmon (who does some uncharacteristically sloppy slapstick here), but Clive Donner's direction should bear the brunt of it--he has no clue how to present this material. Based on the play, "Luv" has bright opening moments but soon sinks into theatrical clichés, the kind that creak and wheeze with age. Worse, it's a visual insult, with tatty color photography that only serves to expose the cheap production. What a shame! Lemmon and Peter Falk (so good together in the earlier "The Great Race") make no music together, and Elaine May struggles for dignity. I struggled through "Luv" and laughed maybe three times. *1/2 from ****
16 Reviews
Mismatched mates
bkoganbing22 October 2012
Back in 1967 when Luv came out in theaters I went to see it and it is one of the very few times I just could not get into the film and walked out before it was over. 45 years later I watched it and did sit through it finally seeing how it ended and my opinion was raised slightly, but not enough to raise it to make it a classic. It's not one of Jack Lemmon's better films.
But it certainly is one of the weirdest I've seen, not funny but just plain weird. Lemmon plays an ultimate neurotic in this one who we meet as he is trying to jump off the Manhattan Bridge. Back in 1967 the walkway was still open for foot traffic. Just as he's about to take a swan dive into the East River along comes an old college friend Peter Falk who is a junk dealer and prowls the streets at night looking for items that thoughtless people might have thrown away.
Falk is unhappily married himself to a neurotic played by Elaine May who won't divorce him. What to do, but put these two neurotics together and see what happens. He saves Lemmon and takes him home and let's nature take its course. In the meantime Falk can pursue the fitness instructor of his dreams Nina Wayne.
Luv was a big hit on Broadway running 901 performances for three years and starred Alan Arkin, Eli Wallach, and Anne Jackson in the Lemmon, Falk, and May roles. On stage it is only a three character play and maybe they should have paid author Murray Schisgal to expand the play for the screen which Columbia Pictures didn't. It must have got a lot of laughs on stage to have had a three year run. But my laughs were few and far between.
But it certainly is one of the weirdest I've seen, not funny but just plain weird. Lemmon plays an ultimate neurotic in this one who we meet as he is trying to jump off the Manhattan Bridge. Back in 1967 the walkway was still open for foot traffic. Just as he's about to take a swan dive into the East River along comes an old college friend Peter Falk who is a junk dealer and prowls the streets at night looking for items that thoughtless people might have thrown away.
Falk is unhappily married himself to a neurotic played by Elaine May who won't divorce him. What to do, but put these two neurotics together and see what happens. He saves Lemmon and takes him home and let's nature take its course. In the meantime Falk can pursue the fitness instructor of his dreams Nina Wayne.
Luv was a big hit on Broadway running 901 performances for three years and starred Alan Arkin, Eli Wallach, and Anne Jackson in the Lemmon, Falk, and May roles. On stage it is only a three character play and maybe they should have paid author Murray Schisgal to expand the play for the screen which Columbia Pictures didn't. It must have got a lot of laughs on stage to have had a three year run. But my laughs were few and far between.
Corny, but not insufferable
rachelschupick21 June 2023
It's weird to watch a movie from the 1960s with 21st century lense. The comedy doesn't flow and at times you're not sure if what your watching is funny or bad writing.
Relaxing the mind a bit and letting go of the 21st century standards of speed we have for comedy, you may find the experience more enjoyable. A few chuckles here and there, even if just for how ludacris it must've been for these two humans to say these lines to each other, or participate in the physical stunts
Also, a good Harrison Ford catch from his early career. (He plays the angry driver in the white convertible that Ellen hits with her car.)
Relaxing the mind a bit and letting go of the 21st century standards of speed we have for comedy, you may find the experience more enjoyable. A few chuckles here and there, even if just for how ludacris it must've been for these two humans to say these lines to each other, or participate in the physical stunts
Also, a good Harrison Ford catch from his early career. (He plays the angry driver in the white convertible that Ellen hits with her car.)
I loved it!
kbkrdh124 July 2002
Although I haven't seen this film in years, it remains one of my favorites. It was goofy, quirky and an odd-ball film. Jack Lemmon wearing a paper scrub hat and hollering at the TV doctors is priceless. Peter Falk's running gag of selling things is truly a genius at work. I would love to see it again, if I can ever find it!
Eh...
BandSAboutMovies22 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
As a kid, I only saw the end of Clive Donner's directing career - TV movies like Babes In Toyland and Spectre and weird stuff like Old Dracula, The Nude Bomb and Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen.
At one point, he was a big part of the British New Wave, making movies like What's New Pussycat?, Nothing but the Best and The Caretaker.
Luv wasn't well-received by critics, but I think it was just the inevitable backlash against what the old guard was told was the next new thing.
The story begins with Harry Berlin (Jack Lemmon) about to jump off of a bridge before he is distracted by an old friend he barely remembers, Milt Manville (Peter Falk), who can't stop bragging about how good his life is. Harry has a plan, though. He plans on leaving his wife Ellen Manville (Elaine May, who went on to write many a romantic comedy) and hopes that Harry can take care of her when he's gone.
The problem? Milt and Ellen love each other more than they love their new spouses, so they try and get Harry to fall for Milt's Linda. Either that or he's going to have to really jump off the bridge.
I kind of love the poster for this, which panders to hippies, who were all either avoiding theaters or waiting for Easy Rider.
At one point, he was a big part of the British New Wave, making movies like What's New Pussycat?, Nothing but the Best and The Caretaker.
Luv wasn't well-received by critics, but I think it was just the inevitable backlash against what the old guard was told was the next new thing.
The story begins with Harry Berlin (Jack Lemmon) about to jump off of a bridge before he is distracted by an old friend he barely remembers, Milt Manville (Peter Falk), who can't stop bragging about how good his life is. Harry has a plan, though. He plans on leaving his wife Ellen Manville (Elaine May, who went on to write many a romantic comedy) and hopes that Harry can take care of her when he's gone.
The problem? Milt and Ellen love each other more than they love their new spouses, so they try and get Harry to fall for Milt's Linda. Either that or he's going to have to really jump off the bridge.
I kind of love the poster for this, which panders to hippies, who were all either avoiding theaters or waiting for Easy Rider.
Very "uneven", but still very entertaining
Skragg27 February 2006
I have to say the same thing about this film that I said about "The Happening" (from the same year, coincidentally), and that's that you almost have to hate it BITTERLY not to like it A LITTLE. I agree about a lot of the slapstick being out of place (though not even all of THAT). I think there's at least one good thing about Harry's "fits" (his hysterical blindness and deafness and so on) and that's seeing Peter Falk react to them in his usual low-key way. Maybe "Harry" WASN'T the best part for Jack Lemmon, I don't know, but Falk and Elaine May really made the most of their roles. And even Nina Wayne (the sister of Carol Wayne, I imagine), who had a much smaller part, makes the most of her comical "dumb blonde" role, without genuinely copying her sister. And of course, it has several great character actors - Eddie Mayehoff, Severn Darden (in a nearly silent role) and Paul Hartman (in a completely silent one). One of the best scenes has Harry reciting "Star Light, Star Bright" in an aggravated Jack Lemmon voice (which clashes with the poem completely, of course), and it's also the scene where Ellen wishes on the star by saying, "I wish I were a lesbian, that's what I wish. Then I wouldn't have these demeaning problems." Harry : You'd have other problems. Like picking up girls. Ellen : That's easy. You just have to be a liar and a hypocrite. Harry : It's not as easy as that. Do you know what a haircut costs these days? Again, on the one hand, I find the complaints about LUV hard to disagree with, and on the other hand, I find the movie impossible not to like a whole lot.
Among Lemmon's worst.
planktonrules27 May 2022
I noticed that many reviewers loved "Luv" and many were left cold by it. Place me in the latter group. It's a shame, as the film had several ingredients that SHOULD have made for an excellent film...such as it starring Jack Lemmon, Eileen May and Peter Falk. Yet despite this, it just left me frustrated and wondering how the story could be this dull and unappealing.
The story is in many ways surreal and strange. It begins with Harry (Lemmon) on a bridge...about to jump to his death. However, an old friend (Falk) sees him and instead of getting hysterical, the friend brings him home and introduces him to his wife (May). Why introduce him to the wife? Well, the husband has a mistress he wants to marry....and he wants to set up his wife with a new husband! Unfortunately, ultimately, these new arrangements don't work out at all...and the original husband and wife wish they hadn't divorced in the first place.
The dialog is strange...but not funny strange...just strange. The characters also act oddly...but again...not in a funny way. The story is just odd but in an unsatisfying way....and also, sadly, among the worst performances by Jack Lemmon, an otherwise brilliant actor.
The story is in many ways surreal and strange. It begins with Harry (Lemmon) on a bridge...about to jump to his death. However, an old friend (Falk) sees him and instead of getting hysterical, the friend brings him home and introduces him to his wife (May). Why introduce him to the wife? Well, the husband has a mistress he wants to marry....and he wants to set up his wife with a new husband! Unfortunately, ultimately, these new arrangements don't work out at all...and the original husband and wife wish they hadn't divorced in the first place.
The dialog is strange...but not funny strange...just strange. The characters also act oddly...but again...not in a funny way. The story is just odd but in an unsatisfying way....and also, sadly, among the worst performances by Jack Lemmon, an otherwise brilliant actor.
J.A.P. Nuttiness
ilprofessore-129 January 2009
Way before Woody Allen laid claim to the same people and the same territory, this 1967 film based on a 1964 play by Murray Schisgal, directed on Broadway by the young Mike Nichols (who had been Elaine May's partner in Chicago) may be the first Hollywood film ever to feature a group of highly neurotic, overly articulate, and -although never named as such apparently middle-class Jewish urban characters. Unfortunately, as funny and satirical as the film is at times, opening it up to the real world with naturalistic settings did not help support its weak story structure. When push comes to shove, the movie is no more than a series of sketches, the sort that Nichols & May did so brilliantly on records and stage. Irishman Jack Lemmon seems miscast; he does his best, however, to sustain the frenetic shtick, mugging outrageously at times. On the plus side, the brilliant and then beautiful Elaine May (future director and writer of many a film flop) may be the greatest crazy Jewish American Princess ever portrayed on film. Try as she might, Woody Allen's second wife, Louise Lasser, understudy in the original Broadway production, could never quite match Elaine May when it came to sheer J. A. P. nuttiness.
How to succeed in failure in one easy lesson.
mark.waltz8 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Here's a great trivia question for your next trivial pursuit movie. What future mega star got to punch Jack Lemmon in the nose just because his car was bumped by a woman driver? The answer can be easily found by looking at the cast of this strange movie version of a forgotten Broadway play. That scene, however, is the style of humor used in this swingin' 60's farce that only got occasional laughs from me because I didn't know quite else to do than try to throw a brick through my plastic T.V. screen. Yes, this is embarrassingly bad, a misguided attempt to make timely (by 60's standards) comments on the subject of love, sex and matrimony, none of which really go together according to this film.
Certainly, any film with as many New York City locations as this isn't going to be totally horrid. The Brooklyn Bridge is the opening setting for the scene where suicidal Lemmon is reunited with old college pal Peter Falk whose job it seems to be to invade the garbage cans of the city then sell the items from his basement. Totally ignoring the about to jump Lemmon, Falk grabs a lamp shade and is about to take off when he suddenly recognizes Lemmon. Bringing him over for dinner, he deals with a sexually frustrated wife (Elaine May) who is a bit wacky and ends up divorcing Falk to marry Lemmon. It's a trip to Coney Island followed by a honeymoon in Niagra Falls where their "luv" is really tested. In the meantime, Falk marries his dumber than a box of grapenuts mistress, Nina Wayne, testing how "luv and sex" don't always mix.
Falk is a truly funny man, but with Lemmon having just come off his first successful pairing with Walter Matthau, you might find yourself longing for him over Falk. Elaine May manages to get laughs simply by sweeping her kitchen floor or snipping Lemmon's suspenders, causing his pants to come down right over the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. This is another one of those automatically dated mod comedies that cry for the music from Laugh In and the Loving Spoonful. The shot of Manhattan from the Brooklyn bridge also seems to be backwards with the Empire State Building and the rest of midtown facing where the financial district should be. Practically a complete miss, it should be seen once to indicate how a comedy should not be. With the team of Lemmon and Falk failing so miserably and the participation of writer Elaine May as the only bright spot, I have to refer to this comedy as the "Ishtar" of the 1960's.
Certainly, any film with as many New York City locations as this isn't going to be totally horrid. The Brooklyn Bridge is the opening setting for the scene where suicidal Lemmon is reunited with old college pal Peter Falk whose job it seems to be to invade the garbage cans of the city then sell the items from his basement. Totally ignoring the about to jump Lemmon, Falk grabs a lamp shade and is about to take off when he suddenly recognizes Lemmon. Bringing him over for dinner, he deals with a sexually frustrated wife (Elaine May) who is a bit wacky and ends up divorcing Falk to marry Lemmon. It's a trip to Coney Island followed by a honeymoon in Niagra Falls where their "luv" is really tested. In the meantime, Falk marries his dumber than a box of grapenuts mistress, Nina Wayne, testing how "luv and sex" don't always mix.
Falk is a truly funny man, but with Lemmon having just come off his first successful pairing with Walter Matthau, you might find yourself longing for him over Falk. Elaine May manages to get laughs simply by sweeping her kitchen floor or snipping Lemmon's suspenders, causing his pants to come down right over the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. This is another one of those automatically dated mod comedies that cry for the music from Laugh In and the Loving Spoonful. The shot of Manhattan from the Brooklyn bridge also seems to be backwards with the Empire State Building and the rest of midtown facing where the financial district should be. Practically a complete miss, it should be seen once to indicate how a comedy should not be. With the team of Lemmon and Falk failing so miserably and the participation of writer Elaine May as the only bright spot, I have to refer to this comedy as the "Ishtar" of the 1960's.
You're likely not to LUV it...
JasparLamarCrabb18 September 2014
Warning: Spoilers
An OK version of the loony Murray Schisgal play (adapted for the screen by Elliott Baker). Jack Lemmon is a suicidal crackpot "saved" from throwing himself off a bridge by college chum Peter Falk. Falk has ulterior motives; he's hoping to unload wife Elaine May so he can marry his sexy mistress. There's a lot of yelling by all the players and the occasional laugh but nothing really gels. The film is ostensibly set in New York and New Jersey but seems hopelessly studio- bound (that's evident from the occasional bad sound). Lemmon has some choice moments and it's always heartening to see the brilliant May in one of her very rare film appearances. Nina Wayne plays Falk's girlfriend. Directed by Clive Donner and featuring a great score by Gerry Mulligan.
A Jack Lemmon Curio with the Talented Elaine May
JLRMovieReviews22 August 2023
Jack Lemmon is about to end it all when an old friend he hasn't seen in 15 years saves him, well not really. Peter Falk never really noticed that in this very bizarre film. When Peter comes up with a brilliant idea to set up his wife (who he's leaving) with Jack Lemmon, things start to get a little more interesting. Elaine May and Peter Falk are great in this film, especially Elaine May. I watched this for Jack Lemmon, who is one of my favorite actors ever. But here, I never really could get into his character. Jack was his usual funny and quirky self with abrupt seizures. But all in all, I never really felt that much sympathy for his character. Outlandish movies like this either tend to end with a whimper or just don't know how or where to end, and this is no exception. While this is no "Some Like It Hot," this is not the worst film I've ever seen either. The acting of Elaine and Peter are far better than the material. Watch if you like the actors.
Very light-hearted fare
Delrvich31 December 2019
Though a fan, Jack Lemmon's schtick did wear really thin at times. Though Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk (big fan), Elaine May, and Nina Wayne, along with the scenery and sets (love the 60s/70s), manage to hold it together. 8 stars for good to great. 7 could be good but had some fault(s), in this case, Jack Lemmon's character quirks (not very different from the Felix Unger character).
LUV won me over!
Psalm5210 August 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I recently saw Lemmon in 'Tuesdays w/ Morrie' and found that film very rewarding. It really displays how talented Lemmon was as an actor, so I set myself a goal to view as many of his films as readily available thru my local libraries. Last night, I saw LUV and it won me over! Lemmon does border his performance on a Jerry Lewis-like character, but it does NOT detract from the story or the supporting performances. Ms. May is suitable in her role and cracked me up with her business-like charts reflecting the sexual intercourse frequencies of her two marriages (Falk and Lemmon). If you really want to fall-out laughing wait until the Niagara Falls scene in which Lemmon and May compete to test each other's LUV. HILARIOUS! Also, if you pay close attention you'll see a young Harrison Ford as a hippie-type who sucker punches Lemmon over a fender-bender. This film is watchable and makes observant commentary on suicide, marriage, extra-marital lust, and the nature of LUV ... just keep in mind the decade in which it filmed ... the '60s. It's a companion piece of sorts to Peter Sellars' 'I Love You Alice, B. Toklas.' Don't miss it!
Wife swapping farce with a dark twist.
MartynGryphon19 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I don't know why, but when a successful stage play is adapted for the screen, nine times out of ten, something usually gets lost in translation. There are noticeable exceptions such as Arsenic and Old Lace and 12 Angry Men, but a vast majority of these movie adaptations lacks that certain something that made the stage play such a success.
Luv from 1967 is one such example. Taken from the Tony Award nominated play of the same name, the movie didn't grab me as I felt it should have and I'm at a loss as to why.
Firstly, let's examine the cast. Jack Lemmon always delivers as does Peter Falk and they do here too so it can't be that. Elaine May is by FAR the best thing in the entire movie so it definitely can't be her.
Whilst the film does have some extremely laugh out loud funny moments, the wife swapping plot line is perhaps a little too 'icky' and things sway to and fro far too quickly for us to have had any chance to build up any sentiment, and none of the four leads are particularly likeable characters anyway.
Lemmon plays Harry Berlin, who we first see as a desperate man at the end of his tether about to commit suicide from a bridge over the Hudson. A timely interruption from Milt Manville (Falk), stops him. Harry and Milt were both graduates from the same college 15 years before and despite not having seen each other since, Milt treats Harry like an old and dear friend inviting him to his home for dinner. However, he has an ulterior motive. Milt is in a loveless, (and not to mention sexless marriage with Ellen (Elaine May). Milt has a mistress in the form of the sexy Linda (Nina Wayne), who won't have anything to do with him whilst he remains married. Ellen won't divorce him and Milt feels that if Ellen fell in love with another man, she will give him the divorce he wants so he can marry Linda. He chooses Harry to be the man to throw Ellen's way.
At first the plan works and Harry and Ellen fall for each other and Ellen asks for a divorce to marry Harry. Once finalised, Harry moves into Milt's old house and marries Ellen and Milt Marries Linda, but it takes no longer than six weeks for the bloom to fall off the rose.
Linda quits her job and Milt discovers she is nothing but a lazy slob who spends all day in bed and neglecting the housework. Linda also isn't happy with Milt due to his habit of selling their furniture to two nameless junk dealers and decides to leave him. Ellen discovers that Harry is nothing more than a neurotic bore whose constant fits and strange behaviour borders on insanity and his total lack of social skills has grated right through to her bone marrow to the point she actually despises him.
After a chance meeting between Milt and Ellen, they decide that they still love each other and that the grass was in no way greener after their divorce. They then plot to get back together by trying to set up Linda with Harry, but Harry's social ineptitude soon gives that idea the deep six. Left with no alternative, they lure Harry back to that bridge over the Hudson River in the hopes that they can persuade him to jump to end his perpetual misery as well as their own.
Luv is in no way a 'black' comedy, but it sure gets dark at times with all the plotting and scheming that goes on. Nina Wayne is woefully underused as the fourth wheel in this marital car wreck, as for the most part, the focus remains firmly on Harry, Milt and Ellen.
The scene where Falk sells his office chair to the junk merchants and throws it out of the window only then to have to crouch at his desk to stop his boss from finding out had me in absolute fits and because we all remember him most as the immortal Lt. Columbo, it's easy to forget what a marvellous gift for comedy Peter Falk actually had and it is on fine display here.
Not a bad movie, but not one I will be rushing to watch again any time soon, mainly because of that missing, intangible and unexplainable 'something'.
Enjoy!
Luv from 1967 is one such example. Taken from the Tony Award nominated play of the same name, the movie didn't grab me as I felt it should have and I'm at a loss as to why.
Firstly, let's examine the cast. Jack Lemmon always delivers as does Peter Falk and they do here too so it can't be that. Elaine May is by FAR the best thing in the entire movie so it definitely can't be her.
Whilst the film does have some extremely laugh out loud funny moments, the wife swapping plot line is perhaps a little too 'icky' and things sway to and fro far too quickly for us to have had any chance to build up any sentiment, and none of the four leads are particularly likeable characters anyway.
Lemmon plays Harry Berlin, who we first see as a desperate man at the end of his tether about to commit suicide from a bridge over the Hudson. A timely interruption from Milt Manville (Falk), stops him. Harry and Milt were both graduates from the same college 15 years before and despite not having seen each other since, Milt treats Harry like an old and dear friend inviting him to his home for dinner. However, he has an ulterior motive. Milt is in a loveless, (and not to mention sexless marriage with Ellen (Elaine May). Milt has a mistress in the form of the sexy Linda (Nina Wayne), who won't have anything to do with him whilst he remains married. Ellen won't divorce him and Milt feels that if Ellen fell in love with another man, she will give him the divorce he wants so he can marry Linda. He chooses Harry to be the man to throw Ellen's way.
At first the plan works and Harry and Ellen fall for each other and Ellen asks for a divorce to marry Harry. Once finalised, Harry moves into Milt's old house and marries Ellen and Milt Marries Linda, but it takes no longer than six weeks for the bloom to fall off the rose.
Linda quits her job and Milt discovers she is nothing but a lazy slob who spends all day in bed and neglecting the housework. Linda also isn't happy with Milt due to his habit of selling their furniture to two nameless junk dealers and decides to leave him. Ellen discovers that Harry is nothing more than a neurotic bore whose constant fits and strange behaviour borders on insanity and his total lack of social skills has grated right through to her bone marrow to the point she actually despises him.
After a chance meeting between Milt and Ellen, they decide that they still love each other and that the grass was in no way greener after their divorce. They then plot to get back together by trying to set up Linda with Harry, but Harry's social ineptitude soon gives that idea the deep six. Left with no alternative, they lure Harry back to that bridge over the Hudson River in the hopes that they can persuade him to jump to end his perpetual misery as well as their own.
Luv is in no way a 'black' comedy, but it sure gets dark at times with all the plotting and scheming that goes on. Nina Wayne is woefully underused as the fourth wheel in this marital car wreck, as for the most part, the focus remains firmly on Harry, Milt and Ellen.
The scene where Falk sells his office chair to the junk merchants and throws it out of the window only then to have to crouch at his desk to stop his boss from finding out had me in absolute fits and because we all remember him most as the immortal Lt. Columbo, it's easy to forget what a marvellous gift for comedy Peter Falk actually had and it is on fine display here.
Not a bad movie, but not one I will be rushing to watch again any time soon, mainly because of that missing, intangible and unexplainable 'something'.
Enjoy!
Luv
Coxer9917 August 1999
Disasterous film version of the Murray Schisgal Broadway hit from the word go. Too dark and moody of an approach by director Donner and an obvious distaste in the material from leads Lemmon, Falk and May, who do their best, but in the end it comes down to the fact that they are badly miscast. Luv became one of those Hollywood oddities - the picture that gets produced despite the fact that everyone agrees it is certain to bomb. It did.
What's wrong with these people?
aramis-112-80488020 January 2024
Harry Berlin (the one and only Jack Lemmon) is taken home by his college pal, Milt (the inimitable Peter Falk) to meet his wife (comedienne Elaine May, who was too rarely seen). But what are Milt's ulterior motives? In New York everything is on quid pro quo basis.
I love wackiness. I love the bizarre. I love movies that are weird with characters who are off the wall (in a nice way) and who spout lines that are so deliciously odd they might've been beamed in from outer space. So why don't I love "Luv"?
Lemmon's character grows so increasingly peculiar and unpleasant one wonders how he ever got voted "Most Likely to Succeed." With the internal dating it would've been in the late 1940s to 1950. After World War II, with serious-minded young draftees returning from having their lives disrupted by Hitler? He'd have just missed the war but I can't see him achieving anything.
In the years before I graduated high school a fellow at my prospective University ran as student body president with a bag over his head. Calling himself "The Unknown Candidate" his sole platform was abolishing student government as a sham. He won in a landslide. That was in the bizarro 1970s. I can't envision a man with this many hagups (many seemingly related to his childhood) being thought likely to succeed by anyone. He should have a net thrown over him. Affectations that work on the stage often are dumped for movies as being downright dumb. Why not this time?
I never saw the play, but apparently Alan Arkin was Harry. They should've used him. He might've brought insights Lemmon missed. And it maybe feel some sort of early "In-Laws" vibe between Arkin and Falk. Alas.
Peter Falk, on the other hand, is great. Weird, yes, but with the sort of weirdness we've come to expect from his characters. He's the best thing in the picture.
Frankly, all the characters are too unpleasant (as in the Monty-Pythonesque one-upsmanship they pull about who had it harder growing up: how did such unstable people get into college at all in the post World War II era)?
Then there are the shots of New York. I'm a country boy, born and bred. New York means nothing to me. If I hadn't had friends I trust who had been there I might not even believe in the place. The shots of Niagara Falls are impressive, though.
I'd be lying if I said "Luv" didn't have good ideas and some really great lines. I laughed a few times. But--!
I love black olives. I know a guy who can't stand them. It's a matter of taste. And I find "Luv" distasteful.
I love wackiness. I love the bizarre. I love movies that are weird with characters who are off the wall (in a nice way) and who spout lines that are so deliciously odd they might've been beamed in from outer space. So why don't I love "Luv"?
Lemmon's character grows so increasingly peculiar and unpleasant one wonders how he ever got voted "Most Likely to Succeed." With the internal dating it would've been in the late 1940s to 1950. After World War II, with serious-minded young draftees returning from having their lives disrupted by Hitler? He'd have just missed the war but I can't see him achieving anything.
In the years before I graduated high school a fellow at my prospective University ran as student body president with a bag over his head. Calling himself "The Unknown Candidate" his sole platform was abolishing student government as a sham. He won in a landslide. That was in the bizarro 1970s. I can't envision a man with this many hagups (many seemingly related to his childhood) being thought likely to succeed by anyone. He should have a net thrown over him. Affectations that work on the stage often are dumped for movies as being downright dumb. Why not this time?
I never saw the play, but apparently Alan Arkin was Harry. They should've used him. He might've brought insights Lemmon missed. And it maybe feel some sort of early "In-Laws" vibe between Arkin and Falk. Alas.
Peter Falk, on the other hand, is great. Weird, yes, but with the sort of weirdness we've come to expect from his characters. He's the best thing in the picture.
Frankly, all the characters are too unpleasant (as in the Monty-Pythonesque one-upsmanship they pull about who had it harder growing up: how did such unstable people get into college at all in the post World War II era)?
Then there are the shots of New York. I'm a country boy, born and bred. New York means nothing to me. If I hadn't had friends I trust who had been there I might not even believe in the place. The shots of Niagara Falls are impressive, though.
I'd be lying if I said "Luv" didn't have good ideas and some really great lines. I laughed a few times. But--!
I love black olives. I know a guy who can't stand them. It's a matter of taste. And I find "Luv" distasteful.
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