Simply Perfect

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Probable one the most waited movie from the duo comic Lewis & Martin,now an official release just came out with those remastered images that allow us to see so many gorgeous gils,funny story where Jerry Lewis made a dumb guy addicted in comic books including weird dreams with their own crazy characters,bored when Martin has your out fashioned songs,became a nightmare to me,on Lewis acting the life comeback to the picture!!Resume:First watch: 1979 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7

When artist Dean Martin needs inspiration for a violent new comic book, he takes it from the dreams of his best pal (Jerry Lewis). Unfortunately they also contain the secret code for a new space station. This is the first Martin and Lewis film I've seen, and it was OK. Lewis isn't particularly funny, but you acclimatise to his relentless mugging after a few minutes, and he had a few good moments – particularly his encounter with the Bat Lady and the fat lady. I watched it because of Tashlin, a former animator who specialised in big, bright comedies satirising anything he felt like, including the marvellous Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? But here his direction is overbearing to the point of being annoying, with sound effects at every juncture. The film's best moments belong to Shirley MacLaine as Lewis's girlfriend (it's always amusing to see where stars ranked in the Hollywood Order of Attractiveness). This was her second film and she's so full of energy she's practically bouncing into your living room. Particularly good is her reprisal of the number Innamorata, where she leaps around a staircase, trying to kiss Lewis. In fact, the musical interludes are mostly surprisingly good; rather better than the comedy (the tone is set by the opening scene, which promises a man being flung through a billboard and then contents itself with dropping some paint on people's heads). Martin's Lucky Song, filmed in a similar way to I Got Rhythm from An American in Paris, is a joy, and the title tune is cleverly staged around an artist's palette filled with various women. Did I mention that the film is quite sexist? All in all, I'm not in a rush to check out more Martin and Lewis movies, but if there's one on TV, I might give it a go.

Once again, before I review this Martin & Lewis movie proper, I have to acknowledge various players that had appeared in their pictures before. Like Dorothy Malone, who was previously in Scared Stiff, playing Dean's leading lady here or Eddie Mayehoff, who before this was in That's My Boy and The Stooge. And how about Kathleen Freeman, whose first appearance with the boys was in 3 Ring Circus, in her small role as the landlady. Okay, with that out of the way, I also want to remark on the fact this was Frank Tashlin's first time directing the boys and as a former Warner Bros. animator, he brings plenty of inventive cartoon-like gags that adds to the fun of their movies. And Shirley MacLaine, in only her second film appearance, also adds to the sexy fun especially in her encounters with Jerry along with Ms. Malone, a model named Anita Ekberg, and Eva Gabor, sister of Zsa Zsa who had her own M & L experience in the aforementioned 3RC, as a foreign spy. And Ms. Freeman and especially Mayehoff bring their own comic gifts to the fore here. While things threaten to lose steam near the end, the production numbers themselves are even more elaborately entertaining than previously possible. So on that note, I highly recommend Artists and Models.

Yes, Jerry Lewis can get annoying, but this movie is worth seeing just for the visuals. As in Cinderfella, the clothes and sets are all too broad and too bright for real life. Tashlin has a talent for making Lewis's mugging work more often than not.