WOODY ALLEN
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5.
USA, 1972. Brodsky-Gould Productions, Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions, Rollins-Joffe Productions. Screenplay by Woody Allen, based on the book by David Reuben. Cinematography by David M. Walsh. Produced by Charles H. Joffe. Music by Mundell Lowe. Production Design by Dale Hennesy. Film Editing by Eric Albertson.
Woody Allen‘s comical adaptation of David Reuben’s self-help book is a sometimes funny, sometimes boring collection of skits strung together. Among the best of them is a hilarious tale featuring Lynn Redgrave as a beautiful princess who wears an extremely well-secured chastity belt, and Allen as the court jester who wants to find the right key for it. There’s also Gene Wilder falling in love with a sheep, a game show about sexual fetishes, a fake television commercial about football players falling in love, a spoof of sexually-explicit Italian films and a very charming segment that takes place in the male body and stars Allen as a sperm who is terrified about his upcoming assignment. Lots of memorably funny stuff, but it doesn’t come together all that well as a whole.