" Love without irritation is just lust. Not that there's anything wrong with lust!"

TxMike

SPOILERS - Ah, the old movies. Did we really dress like that in 1972? Yep. Men with long sideburns and fluffy haircuts, women with butt-tight bellbottom pants. In this movie Pete (Walter Matthau) is the womanizer married to Tillie (Carol Burnett)who just wants a normal, committed marriage. His take on sex and marriage, "The first week you do it every day, then the next week 3 times, then after that once a week until you're cured." He plays the piano, and in one scene he awakens Tillie early, and then we see Pete sitting there stark naked, playing "ragtime", the only tune he apparently knew.

Their young son develops a fatal disease, and when he dies they sort of drift apart. One of Tillie's friends encourage her to get a divorce, "I know lots of lawyers", they get into an interesting fight, water spray, garbage cans, and all. At the end Tillie tells Pete, "I finally figured that there's nothing wrong with you at all, you're just hopeless", and they walk off arm-in-arm, his hand on her butt.

This isn't a great movie, but a very good one. Matthau and Burnett are wonderful, and the whole story gets you to thinking about your own relationships.  A film for mature audiences, because of the concepts. I rate it "7" of 10.

score /10

TxMike 8 December 2001

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0125320/