Micki + Maude

I've been punishing myself watching all Dudley Moore's movies from the 80's. His usual unsympathetic movie persona is here: A successful man in his field despite lacking professionalism that inevitably advances on his leading ladies while running and screaming through corridors in labored plots.

Blake Edwards tries to sugarcoat Moore's dubious moral compass in this farce. Moore is a caring husband/lover that desperately wants to be a family man but shamelessly cheats his love interests. This dissonance in values never goes away and kinda ruins the lighthearted tone of this comedy.

I loved Ann Reinking as the innocent perfect wife. The really good acting on her part that kept this movie entertaining. Amy Irving's is not exactly a counterpoint and could be more fleshed out. Moore does a competent job being more awake in the role than in his later movies.

The plot is nothing special and there's a unfortunate shadow of Arthur (1981) in the relationship between Rob and Leo mirroring Arthur and Hobson that is underdeveloped and seems tackled into the movie. Curiously, in Lovesick(1983) Moore's character also has an older figure that his character listen to and try to sort his problems.

Not a bad movie, but not good either.

Local TV reporter Rob Salinger (Dudley Moore) is married to Micki (Ann Reinking) who is trying to be a high power judge. He wants to have children but she wants to hold off. He is sent to do a piece on concert cellist Maude Guillory (Amy Irving). He has an affair with her and she gets pregnant. He is about to ask Micki for a divorce when she tells him that she's pregnant. He doesn't divorce Micki and marries Maude anyways. Only his boss Leo (Richard Mulligan) knows the truth as Rob tries to live his double lives.

Director Blake Edwards sometimes try to make his cheating protagonists appealing. It's not appealing and I don't like Rob in this movie. He's trying to get points for marrying both women but it's his cheating that started the whole thing. It's not fun. There isn't much screwball humor until the hospital. By then, I only really like Amy Irving.

"Micki + Maude" is a warm, lovely little comedy, so sweet-natured and appealing that it's hard to resist. We identify completely with Dudley Moore, who honestly loves both his wives; his behavior never seems smug or calculating. He just can't choose between them, because he cares deeply for both of them. And because of that, the movie becomes emotionally involving. Warning: this isn't the kind of comedy that will make you laugh so much you won't be able to take a breath; it's the kind of comedy that will leave you, repeatedly, with a goofy grin on your face.

Likable Blake Edwards comedy with Moore who plays a frustrated news reporter with two wives, who are both pregnant at the same time. Yikes! This farce is pleasant and Moore carries it beautifully with his usual timing and flair. One of his best!

Micki+Maude is one of the most satisfying comedies to come out of Hollywood in the 1980's. It is perhaps Blake Edward's last great film, it is also the film in wich Dudley Moore solidified his position as a like-able Romantic Light Comedian worthy of greats like Cary Grant and Jack Lemon. The plot in itself works thanks to a knockout idea, Dudley Moore + 2 wives = Bigamy x Pregnancy. Any theme like that alone would be funny. Handled by one of the all time great American directors, Blake Edwards and starring Cuddly Dudley, it soars. Amy Irving as Micki, and Anne Reinking as Maude are both very enjoyable and frothy charcters, essential to a romantic comedy. One imagines that if he wanted to Edwards could have made this a straight sequel to his hit 10, with Dud reprising his role as George Webber, with Julie Andrews as Micki and Bo Derk as Maude. But Amy Irving and Anne Reinking do just nicely. Michael Le Grand's themes and songs are nice, and the film amounts to a funny and fitting climax. Edwards employs in the fianl scenes lots of Laurel and Hardy imagery and Dud handles this well. Edwards should be proud because not only has he emulated the greatest work of Stan and Ollie with this film, he has created something that in turn will influence generations of Comedy directors. Why on earth this didn't win any Academy Awards i dont know. I can think of an Actor and a Director who thoroughly deserve them.