frankf-10

Simply a fun movie, well written, performed and directed. I didn't expect a lot going in, but found laughter in almost every scene. The child is adorable and in the last over-the-top sugary scene, you could almost believe a kid this sainted could exist. A talented young performer.

I consider myself as someone with a good sense of humor, one who can see a joke being set up a minute before it hits you. But there were a lot of fun surprises. Very inventive stuff. Being someone who is not unfamiliar with the oddities of "health food," the joke about seitan was appreciated by me, but probably lost on the majority in the audience. (The IMDb spell checker here isn't laughing either.)

'twould be nice to know if the foster father and the little girl were improvising in the car scene before she goes in to sign up for the competition. It seemed spontaneous. If it was, the kid is a comic genius. If not, it was just fun writing. The images kicked back and forth in that scene were reminiscent of some of the really zany stuff that I loved in the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips a few years back.

Check out Butter and enjoy.

It is unsettling to read all the rave reviews "The Party" gets here. Throughout the film I kept wondering if Blake Edwards and Sellers actually thought this was a funny film. I found it painful... almost embarrassing, to watch. I couldn't believe how trite were the ideas - including the floor opening over a swimming pool, which was great decades before when done in "Its a Wonderful Life," but just one of many duds in Party. And every cliché is dwelt on for a minimum of 10 minutes. Filling a house with bubbles was good for 5 minutes on I Love Lucy, but it is built to operatic dimensions here - while maintaining a frightening level of boredom. The drunk waiter, for about 15 minutes, took over the movie. I wish I could say it was a relief, but his stumbling around and falling on people added zip to the "fun." Could someone please tell me what was funny about the hostess falling into the pool the first, second and/or third time?

Thank gawd Sellers made Strangelove and the Pink Panther flicks! I'd hate to have his reputation rest on this junior high school video.