Tiens bon la rampe, Jerry

Our narrator informs us at the start that our film takes place near the turn of the century, so we must assume it is 1998 or 1999. NASA is now NAWA and is in a pickle. Both the Americans and the Russians are maintaining weather stations on the moon. The Americans have 2 male astronauts while the Russians have a male and female. The problem is, one of the Americans keeps attacking the Russian female because he has gone mad. The head of NAWA sees a publicity coup by arranging for a married American team to replace the 2 men, but everything falls apart when the newly married couple starts fighting. Enter Lewis as Peter Mattemore, the oldest trainee who always finds a way out of actual space flight. Mattemore manages to convince Eileen Forbes (played by the lovable Connie Stevens) to marry him and go to the moon with him. Hilarity ensues after they arrive at their destination to find the 2 Russian cosmonauts (played by Dick Shawn and Anita Eckberg) and find Shawn's character is a sex crazed cossack.

For most of the film Lewis is rather subdued in his acting, only letting some of his comic genius burst out for a few seconds at a time. It isn't until we are 2/3's through the film that the true slapstick that we recognize as Lewis trots out during the party scene with all 4 main characters. Stevens is her usual sexy yet girl next door type. She really makes those clear plastic couches and pillows look good. Eckberg, although more statuesque and built than Stevens, takes a back seat to Connie. Shawn is a zany lunatic that is about the only equal to Lewis when it comes to over the top acting.

Mid 60's sex comedy in space. 2 rocket scientists (Jerry Lewis and incredibly cute Connie Stevens) rushed by the air force into marriage to be the first husband and wife on the moon, There they meet an unmarried couple of Russian cosmonauts (a stunningly statuesque Anita Ekberg's the girl), drink a lot of vodka and get stupid. Unfortunately apart from the couple of guys (Howard Morris and Dennis Weaver) Lewis and Stevens are sent to relieve, after 3 years of isolation together. going crazy and at each others throats for lack of female companionship, the rest of the tepidly "sexy" shenanigans that happen "Way Out" aren't as much fun as what goes on back on earth, Bob Morley gets the best lines and makes the most of them--who cares how a distinguished English gentleman ended up head of the American space program? :-) Brian Keith is hilarious as military brass stereotype Gen. "Howling Wolf" Hallenby, and there's the brief appearance of a ridiculous southern senator Deuce Hawkins (Alex D'arcy} who manages to get in a complaint, topical then, but apropos of nothing else here, that the civil rights movement was going "too fast", a sentiment that seems still to be held by a great number of senators and their constituents to this day. You laugh while you cry when you see something like that all these years later With the advantages of home viewing these days, I'd FF once they arrived on the moon, pausing only to admire the lovely ladies, at home in their spacepod, lounging around in their negligees..

Believe me, any of those French critics who can see this odious mess and STILL consider Jerry Lewis a genius ought to be drowned in their own vichysoisse! Jerry is at his most self-indulgent on this project, and isn't helped by a lot of leering jokes that even a horny twelve-year-old would consider in bad taste. The all-but-incomprehensible plot and sluggish acting don't help, either. Only bright spot about this film is the underrated, under-used Dick Shawn as Jerry's Russian counterpart.

At least a good director experienced in handling Jerry, like Frank Tashlin or Norman Taurog, could have possibly made something out of this, but Gordon Douglas was always a director (?) whose main virtue was that he could bring in films on-time and at or under budget. Douglas' films were successful because of either their stars or stories ("Robin and the Seven Hoods," the Carroll Baker "Harlow"), but he himself was a director of workmanlike competence and no more. It's a reputation he upholds here, with his indulgent direction and sluggish pacing.

All of which proves, once again, that Jerry Lewis' last really good film on his own was "The Nutty Professor." After that, he started believing his press clippings, especially his foreign ones, and, after a while, he wasn't as much funny as downright pathetic. And "Way... Way Out" is a textbook example of this.

"Way...Way Out" is an unusual Jerry Lewis film mostly because it isn't really a comedy. Sure, it has a few laughs here and there, but the overall effect is more like a commentary about the Cold War than a funny film. To put it bluntly, it isn't particularly funny--though it is interesting.

The film is set in the near future. There is an American and Russian base on the Moon and both are quite small--with two persons in each. As for the American base, the men aboard keep going crazy--presumably because they cannot function without women. But, the Russians have sent a man-woman team and their base is functioning much better. So, the head of the American space agency (an oddly cast Robert Morley) has determined that the next team going to the station will be married. The problem is that the next man scheduled to go (Jerry Lewis) is single and has no particular plans to marry. But, when told they want him to marry a pretty lady (Connie Stevens), he's in favor of the idea--but she isn't. So, the pair agree to go and to marry but not to consummate the marriage. The rest of the film is basically waiting until Stevens changes her mind. In between there is a pretty silly (and forgettable) plot involving the two Russians (Dick Shawn and Anita Ekberg).

The bottom line is that the film lacks laughs but is also inoffensive and an interesting look into the times in which it was made. A must for Lewis fans--otherwise, an inoffensive time-passer and nothing more.

By the way, I am not sure why but if you watch the veteran actor Sig Ruman closely, you can tell his voice is dubbed. Perhaps he had trouble doing the Russian accent credibly.

Although Jerry Lewis is the star of this mid 60's spoof of the space program he gets plenty of help in providing the comedy. A good supporting cast make this an enjoyable comedy film.

Howard Morris's character Schmidlapp a sex starved American astronaut who's been stationed on the moon far too long is perhaps the best of all. When he sees the gorgeously cute Connie Stevens he loses it. "Maybe she's one of those girls who soaps herself all over..and...then ...gets...into the tub" he tells fellow astronauts Lewis and Dennis Weaver who are wondering how Stevens takes a bath. The late Dick Shawn and Brian Keith are also featured. Like Gilligans Island "Your sure to get a smile" when you see this movie.