Insignificance

Marilyn Monroe, Senator McCarthy, and Joe Dimaggio walk into Einstein's hotel room.....

They don't all walk in at the same moment, of course. That would be too obviously a joke. Nonetheless, I am left with the impression that's the genesis of this movie: that, or perhaps some sort of "If you could choose anyone in all of history, who would you invite to a dinner party" game, leaving me to ponder what Cicero would have to say to Dorothy Parker.

It's based on a one-set play, of course; the 1970s and 1980s were rife with this sort of stage play, which usually played off-off-Broadway in New York. Director Nicholas Roeg tries to cover this by starting this on the streets of Manhattan, where Miss Monroe is about to get her skirt blown up for a publicity gag. DP Peter Hannan also does a lot of Dutch angles, probably at the order of Roeg, who had been a pretty good cinematographer himself before taking up the megaphone.

With Michael Emil (Einstein), Theresa Russell (Monroe), Gary Busey (Dimaggio) and Tony Curtis as Tail Gunner Joe.