What a cute movie! I thought it was going to be enormously silly, but I ended up really liking The Art of Love and laughing all the way through. Dick Van Dyke and James Garner seem to really enjoy playing up their comic elements, and their energies balanced each other well. With the romantic setting of Paris as its backdrop, the movie can take off on any number of ridiculous situations and it doesn't even feel ridiculous.
Dick is a starving artist, renting a room from his pal James. When they get drunk and muse about how if Dick committed suicide, his paintings would sell like hotcakes. Dick falls in the river, James can't find him, and the hypothetical appears to have come true. All of a sudden, his paintings do sell like hotcakes! But Dick has to stay hidden, so he seeks refuge in a burlesque run by Ethel Merman. As he battles his attraction to new employee Elke Sommer, James falls for Dick's fiancé, Angie Dickinson.
Believe it or not, that's the simple version of the plot. This Carl Reiner screenplay is very funny, with jokes around every corner and surprises no matter how much you think you know what's going to happen. The humor is a perfect element of tongue-in-cheek, obvious set-ups, and classic situational comedy. There's even a throwback to A Tale of Two Cities with the crazy old lady crying "guillotine!" Try this one out if you like the two leads, even if you think it might be too silly. It won't be, and it'll keep you laughing from start to finish.
