This might as well have been a sequel to that 1960 oscar-winning classic directed by Billy Wilder where Jack Lemmon played a frustrated insurance company employee who is manipulated into lending out his apartment for various trists that other executives are having. He shows up at a party being given by boss Peter Lawford and meets a beautiful Catherine Deneuve. They begin spending time together, first at a wild "Sweet Charity" like nightclub that has to be seen to be believed, and later in various parts of Manhattan including a gorgeous spring day in Central Park.
That's where you hear the pretty but not really memorable Dionne Warwick / Burt Bacharach song, having earlier been given a rendition of "Say a Little Prayer" by one of the guests at the party. Deneuve turns out to be Lawford's wife, unhappily neglected (and what a fool he is for doing that), while Lemmon feels taken for granted by his family which includes beautiful wife Sally Kellerman. She really doesn't take him for granted. They just have such different schedules that makes it appear that way.
There's also Jack Weston as Lemmon's pal, Charles Boyer and Myrna Loy as an elegant older couple dispensing marital advice, and a croaking frog who is a metaphor for how Lemmon feels about himself. That's why he makes the decision to go with Deneuve to Paris and quits his job, but boss Lawford is completely unaware when his wife says she's going there as well that she's going to be with Lemmon. Harvey Korman also has a small role as does Melinda Dillon whom I believe was the swinging secretary who gives away her character by wearing white painted on eye shadow, showing no shame in making a pass at Lemmon on her first day assigned to him.
Certainly not a great film, it is an extremely entertaining film which is why I give it a higher rating than it would have deserved otherwise. That wild and wacky 60's sense of style is present in the art direction and costume design, and you really feel like you've gone back in a time capsule by watching this. It's ironic that Shirley MacLaine apparently was offered the lead female role, but she would have been completely wrong with what ends up on screen and it really would have pointed out the similarities to "The Apartment".
That's where you hear the pretty but not really memorable Dionne Warwick / Burt Bacharach song, having earlier been given a rendition of "Say a Little Prayer" by one of the guests at the party. Deneuve turns out to be Lawford's wife, unhappily neglected (and what a fool he is for doing that), while Lemmon feels taken for granted by his family which includes beautiful wife Sally Kellerman. She really doesn't take him for granted. They just have such different schedules that makes it appear that way.
There's also Jack Weston as Lemmon's pal, Charles Boyer and Myrna Loy as an elegant older couple dispensing marital advice, and a croaking frog who is a metaphor for how Lemmon feels about himself. That's why he makes the decision to go with Deneuve to Paris and quits his job, but boss Lawford is completely unaware when his wife says she's going there as well that she's going to be with Lemmon. Harvey Korman also has a small role as does Melinda Dillon whom I believe was the swinging secretary who gives away her character by wearing white painted on eye shadow, showing no shame in making a pass at Lemmon on her first day assigned to him.
Certainly not a great film, it is an extremely entertaining film which is why I give it a higher rating than it would have deserved otherwise. That wild and wacky 60's sense of style is present in the art direction and costume design, and you really feel like you've gone back in a time capsule by watching this. It's ironic that Shirley MacLaine apparently was offered the lead female role, but she would have been completely wrong with what ends up on screen and it really would have pointed out the similarities to "The Apartment".