Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)

Simply Perfect

Sadly Over-hyped

Great Film overall

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

When it comes to this 1965 film's title - "Kiss Me, Stupid" - I really don't get the "Kiss Me" part of it - But - The "Stupid" part of it pretty much says everything that needs to be said (in a nutshell) about this ridiculously contrived rubbish.And, speaking about this film's 3 principal actors - Dean Martin, Kim Novak, and Ray Walston - I really can't decide which one of this terrible trio put in the most cringe-worthy performance of all.Was it Dean? - Who was basically just playing himself - (But he just couldn't do it convincingly)Was it Kim? - Who (once again) was playing a cheap, white-trash tart. (Yawn!)Was it Ray? - Who (as the annoyingly eccentric Orville Spooner character) was chewing up the scenery, left, right, and centre.Anyway - It really doesn't matter much who was the worst - 'Cause, unfortunately, as a combined trio they, literally, tore this film's unfunny story right up into absolute shreds.

In an interview, Wilder once said, "I am a sucker for Dean Martin. I thought he was the funniest man in Hollywood." Well, I agree. I'm a tremendous fan of his. But I'm pretty neutral about this movie. Admittedly, over time it's grown on me a bit, but I still find it to be just a little over the edge in terms of sexual innuendos. And this gets down to the problem I have had with a number of Billy Wilder's films. Wilder did some great films, both in terms of those he wrote and those he directed. The time period during which this film was made was the most cynical of Wilder's career...and I'm just not that cynical. So this was a difficult film for me to enjoy -- a rabid Dean Martin fan with Dean in a film that I really don't like. In fact, released just after his tremendous hit of "Everybody Loves Somebody" I really wanted to see this film back in 1964, but it was held in such disdain that my small town theater would not show the film.However, as I said, this film has grown on me...a bit...over the years. The idea is clever...Dino (pretty much playing himself, although a bit over the top) ends up stranded in a desert town called Climax. He unwittingly stays overnight at a male piano teacher's (Ray Walston) house who just happens to be half of a song-writing team (with Cliff Osmond) that has little talent. Can they sell a song to Dino (even under duress)? Or will the piano teacher's wife (Felicia Farr) be too distracting. Solution -- substitute a local barmaid (Kim Novak) for the wife, let Dino get seduced, and see what happens.Dean turns in a really good performance because he entertainingly makes fun of his own image. Dean could do more with a look or a throwaway line...Although I liked other Kim Novak roles much better (for example "Vertigo"), she does bring a certain sensitivity to the role of the local prostitute that many actresses probably couldn't have accomplished.Ray Walston was not a strong enough actor to take such an important role in a film. As a minor supporting actor, fine. But he has a lot of screen time in this film, and he wasn't up to it. It borders on slapstick exaggeration. And to think that Billy Wilder wanted Jack Lemmon for the role! Felica Farr is quite good as the wife. Ironically, she was Jack Lemmon's wife! Cliff Osmond is good in his role as the co-songwriter.There are also some interesting small supporting roles here. Mel Blanc as a dentist. Howard McNear (the barber on Andy Griffith's show) as Farr's father. Doro Merande as Farr's mother. And Henry Gibson as a bar patron.There is one song (supposedly by the untalented songwriters, but actually based on unpublished work by the Gershwins) called "Sophia" that Dean actually recorded in 1964, and while it is decidedly corny, it also has a nice melody. But, as Dino said in the film, "I need another Italian song like a giraffe needs a strep throat!" Looking back now, one wonders what all the fuss was about back in 1964. It almost seems tame. So it's good for watching...at least once.

Difficult for me NOT to give this movie an IMDb score of 10. Absolutely charming from beginning to end. I'm well aware of Billy Wilder, his reputation as a GREAT director who made great films. STILL, I not only had never seen this, I was totally unaware of it.It is great: incredibly funny, well written, touchingly directed (the long shots of Mrs. Spooner's dress model, the closing of doors and opening of windows...on and on, just brilliant. Peter Sellers and Marilyn Monroe for the leads? Maybe, but why? In fact, no, no, no. Walston and Novack are perfect in their imperfection, playing regular people in a Hollywood invades reality comedy of (ill)manners. Dean Martin is perfectly, ideally cast in a role written for the role Hollywood wrote for him- playing a role within a role and ONLY Billy Wilder could write and direct a role for real people's roles. What genius.Just relax and enjoy this early 60's romp, from trailer to bedroom to Sam the parrot, "bang, bang!"No loose ends. A great finish. Don't miss a second. Why I don't give this a 10, I don't know. Maybe because they didn't let Ray Walston sing. Maybe there are better movies...Citizen Kane, Casablanca....but this'll do for great comedy. A perfect representative of its time, even better today. Daring; just plain great.

There is no sense to this story of a jealous husband (Ray Walston) who sets up a stranded singer (Dean Martin as "Dino Martini", an obvious parody of himself) with a barmaid (Kim Novak) posing as his wife after the real wife (Felicia Farr) flees in tears after the paranoid Walston sets her up for a fight in order to prevent an actual seduction by the sex-crazed Lothario. The film, photographed in a truly dreary version of fabulous black and white, has a hysterical opening in Las Vegas with Martin performing his stage act to Gershwin's "S' Wonderful", then getting stuck in the town of "Climax" where the big social scene is at a dive bar called the "Belly Button". Such character performers as Henry Gibson, John Fiedler, Alice Pearce and Doro Merande (as Farr's nasty witch like mother whom Walston refers to as "Godzilla") pop in and out of the supposed plot line for non-comic effect. Walston is a songwriter who is trying to get Martin to buy his songs (actually trunk songs by Gershwin which appear to have been trunk songs for a reason) for his upcoming musical special.This is a one joke movie (where the punchline really has the screenwriter deserving to be punched) that in spite of its truly raunchy story seemed to have some promise at the beginning but soon lead me into shaking my head much like the critics at the time did. There is no evidence as to why Martin would want to seduce a married woman inside her own house with the husband present or why Walston thought his wife was cheating on him in the first place. After the subtle sexualities of "Some Like It Hot", "The Apartment" and "Irma La Douce", director Billy Wilder would really hit rock bottom with this one.