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Such Good Friends
Julie Messinger is an intense woman who hides her wild emotions and desires under her conventional facade. Her husband Richard checks into the hospital for a simple mole removal that goes seriously wrong.
Release : | 1971 |
Rating : | 6 |
Studio : | Paramount, Otto Preminger Films, |
Crew : | Production Design, Director of Photography, |
Cast : | Dyan Cannon James Coco Jennifer O'Neill Ken Howard Nina Foch |
Genre : | Drama Comedy |
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Instant Favorite.
Gripping story with well-crafted characters
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Who would think that a mole removal could cause such an ordeal for married couple Lawrence Luckinbill and Dyan Cannon? But it does. As this stupid mole keeps chaffing on Luckinbill's shirt, he decides to have the darn thing taken off his neck. But before you can say, "Calling Dr. Kildare!", he's in a coma, and everybody in Manhattan he knows is anxiously giving blood. Frantic wife Dyan Cannon finds out her husband wasn't so faithful to her, so she goes on a sexual rampage, seducing their photographer friend Ken Howard with limp results and going out of her way to satisfy the doctor friend (James Coco) who operated on Luckinbill in the first place. Portly Coco is hysterical as he tries to get out of his corset without Cannon noticing he has it on. If that visual isn't hysterically gross, try this one on: Burgess Meredith in the buff. Yes, if you were anxiously awaiting a movie where the Penguin bares (almost) all, try this one for size. The star of "Winterset" and "Of Mice and Men" tops his already memorable performance in "Hurry Sundown" with this cameo where Cannon sees the toupee wearing Meredith wearing nothing but a flower over his nipple and what looks like a department store shopping bag covering his privates.Is there a point to all of this? Not really unless it is uncomfortable laughs Otto Preminger, the director of "Laura", "Anatomy of a Murder" and that recent masterpiece "Skidoo" was going for. Much better than that piece of celluloid ragweed, "Such Good Friends" is a comedy of groans with an interesting cast, some wonderful shots of early 1970's Manhattan, and a Blake Edwards sensibility that would make the Pink Panther give himself up to Clouseau. Dyan Cannon plays a totally likable character that seems to judge nobody, least of all her nagging monster of a mother (Nina Foch in a toure de force performance). In fact, she enjoys seeing Meredith in the buff, and agrees to share a dance with him. She is a perfect wife and mother but has no shame of wearing a see-through knit vest with no bra. The bearded Howard, fresh from his triumph as Thomas Jefferson in Broadway's "1776", is also amusing. Of supporting actors, Doris Roberts is instantly recognizable as a hospital visitor who appears in several hospital scenes over several days (wearing the same outfit!). Some veteran stars of "B" movies of the 40's and '50's appear in cameos.Not a great comedy, it is amusing simply by the sheer gall of the writers and director. In fact, fans of the "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun" movies will have to watch it several times to (like those Zucker brother comedy classics) catch every single gag. Others might find making fun of hospitalization, malpractice and possible death offensive.
I'm a big fan of the beautiful, sexy, and talented Dyan Cannon. I saw this film when it first came out in 1971 and thought it was funny, sexy, well-acted, and entertaining. Well, I just saw this movie today, after some 35 years and it hasn't aged well. The movie about a medical mishap and extra-marital affairs is now old news. The plot no longer has the kick it had back in 1971. There are some bright spots that are still shinny; an all-star cast of veteran actors, the sexy Miss Cannon and the equally attractive Jennifer O'Neal, and one very humor "sex" scene. Aside from that, the movie is slow moving and somewhat dull. The plot is depressing, and the ending makes little or no sense. So, unless you're a big fan of Dyan Cannon or Jennifer O'Neal, I'd forget about Such Good Friends.
A sharp, deadpan-hilarious dark comedy which never found its audience, probably because there are so many different targets set up by the material: modern marriage, adultery, doctors, hospitals, the literary world, sexual fantasies, sexual positions, Jewishness, lesbian experimentation, revenge (maybe feminist revenge) and, of course, the hard work of dying--which brings everything full circle by the finale. Director Otto Preminger chases after the pungent satire in Elaine May's script (under a pseudonym) in every direction, and yet the film doesn't feel scattershot; it is a rude, wicked rose in constant bloom. The wife of a celebrated writer and magazine editor in New York City finds out her husband's been cheating on her within their circle of friends--and this discovery comes while he's in the hospital dying after having had a mole removed! Dyan Cannon delivers one of her best performances; she's glib, bitter, sexy and naughty, which helps viewers overlook the fact the tone of the movie sometimes has an icy pallor. One of Pauline Kael's complaints was that Cannon's character goes after men without seeing the irony of her actions--that she has no self-respect--and this in fact may be true. We never learn where the wife's priorities lie; she's a good mother to her boys, she's a good listener when her friends come around to bitch, but she's too encompassed in thoughts of the past or in trying to stay strong to figure out how being cheated on really makes her feel. Preminger gets fine performances out of a colorful cast, and there are big laughs in the film, but cutting-edge comedies can also cut too deeply without nimble handling. Preminger isn't very careful, but that may be intentional. ***1/2 from ****
It has only a couple of scenes that you'll remember and the plot is too slow. Otto Preminger may have done a good work with the actors in this film but this is not enough.Even though it has no ambition either so ...