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Excellent but underrated film

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The Family Jewels casts Jerry Lewis as chauffeur/bodyguard/factotum to little Donna Butterworth who is worth millions and who has just lost her father. The attorney for her estate is the officious Neil Hamilton and by the terms of her father's will Butterworth can choose whom her guardian shall be among an interesting variety of uncles.And those uncles are all played by Jerry Lewis in a homage to Alec Guinness and the many members of D'Ascoyne family he played in Kind Hearts And Coronets. The Family Jewels is not as good a film as Kind Hearts And Coronets but that's because the Guinness film contains a witty and interesting story, wit being supplied by Dennis Price as he kills off the heirs.Nothing that bad here except one of the uncles Jerry plays is a gangster who wants the fortune for himself and holds Butterworth for ransom after several inept efforts to capture her from chauffeur Lewis.The most interesting of the Lewis characters is that of the pilot uncle who has a broken down one plane airline who happens to get a charter flight the day Butterworth visits. The whole sequence is one sustained gag about this group of old ladies with matrimony on their minds who out of desperation take Jerry's airline to a convention in Chicago. The trip is most interesting and hilarious.Jerry directed himself in this and director Lewis packaged all his characters with tender care for a still appreciative audience.

I know this isn't the best movie to watch, but for some reason I found it campy, corny and enjoyable. Jerry Lewis did seem to try and have fun with this film, and showed off his mulit-character talents which some people called hogging the movie. But hey can't we all just have fun sometimes? Apparently not since some of the negative reviews the movie received. Oh well I still like the movie alot and will always look to catch it on TV.10 out of 10, bc I said so.

This is the third old Jerry Lewis-film I've seen recently(the others being THE NUTTY PROFESSOR and WHO'S MINDING THE STORE?)and it's easily the least of the three. Whereas the other two had an inspired moment every hour or so, this film scores low on ingenuity and high on stupidity. There just isn't a single funny scene in it, the story is of course ludicrous(which wouldn't have been a problem when it would have been funny) and the only thing Jerry Lewis seems to be able to is looking cross-eyed when there's a sudden noise. Oh yes, and have I mentioned his idiotic walk? Now I know that when you've seen a Lewis movie, you've seen them all. The more I see of him the worse it gets. And I just can't understand why some people keep calling him "underrated", I just can't. There's nothing subtle about him, he's about as funny as Pauly Shore(and his films of the same level)and he's not really a modest guy too. If it's obvious that your films are nothing more than a showcase for yourself(and the story of no importance), you expect them to be funnier. What can I say more? Just don't see this unless you have to write a book or so about Jerry Lewis. But then again, who would do that? 3/10

I'll give Lewis credit: even though this one isn't on par with the uproarious stuff he and Dean Martin did or even with "The Disorderly Orderly" or "The Nutty Professor", "The Family Jewels" shows Lewis doing what he does best.Running amok.Playing no less than seven characters here, Lewis changes costumes, accents and venues but stays just as addled in all of them. This time, he plays a chauffeur who takes care of a little girl (Butterworth, a novice here and since) and shuttles her between six brothers (all Lewis again) who vie to be guardian of her and the millions of dollars she will inherit.Of course, it's interesting to see that he brings back (in shape only) his character from "The Nutty Professor". Good to see him.And only Lewis could make a slapstick free-for-all in which Anne Baxter makes a cameo.It's good, nutty fun for all and definitely a better choice than his later work. "The Family Jewels" - definitely a "Jewel" in the rough.Eight stars.