Thanks for the memories!

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Absolutely Fantastic

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

(Flash Review)Probably converted from the theater, there are six main characters: four human, a crummy apartment and five exhausting flights of stairs. Redford and Fonda are newlyweds who apparently got married quickly and immaturely. Moving into an apartment with many shortcomings and on the fifth floor without an elevator they begin to learn more about themselves in the real world. Redford is new lawyer and practical while Fonda is a stay at home wife and very free-spirited. Will their new marriage last harsh reality? There is no real plot as you follow them, her mother and an eccentric neighbor for a few evenings full of unique happenings and light gags. Occasionally, irritating at how Fonda's character was written with her actions but if you like Redford and Fonda, you may as well watch this. If you don't, there isn't much reason to watch it as it was completely average aside from a glimpse into the 60's world.

There are no prettier people in all of show business than Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. For God's sake, they are in their seventies and they still put it out there. They were at the height of their splendor when this Neil Simon comedy was made. Redford plays the dull, committed young lawyer, whose life is directed toward his work. Jane is the anything-goes free spirit who wants adventure. Both are a bit hard to take. Everyone loves the Jane character until you've been around one too long. Sometimes we would like to have people hold it back a bit. The couple has a very romantic honeymoon and then move into an ancient New York apartment. It's on the fifth floor with no elevator, and much of the comedy comes from the enormous trek just to get upstairs. Simon throws in a group of quirky neighbors who start to teach the young couple how life really is.

I'm 54 years old. I first saw this movie as a boy and found it amusing. I recently just saw it again. Ugh.Jane Fonda's character is over the top, insatiable, whiny, out-of- control, illogical, and emotional.Meanwhile, Redford's character is just trying to go work and get a good nights sleep which is impossible.And after a mere six days of marriage, she wants a divorce. Please.It was an absolute pain to watch this movie. Had I bought popcorn, I would have asked for my money back.This ridiculous story while light-hearted in it's original release has proved on film over time to be an embarrassment to intelligent women everywhere and forever.You couldn't pay me to watch this ever again. Well actually you could.But it would have to be a lot.

Another film adaptation of Neil Simon's play with the same name, directed by his frequent collaborator, the stage and film directer Gene Saks, who has recently passed away at the age of 93. It pairs Fonda and Redford as a couple of newlyweds Corie and Paul, whose marriage is hanging on a thread when they find out their personalities are poles apart. Like the outworn running gag of climbing a five-storey building (New Yorkers are really that easy to be defeated by this not-so-challenging altitude?), the film doesn't weather too well through the time, its story is quite common-or-garden, the adventurous spirit Vs. the prudent comportment, which is also reflected by pairing up their idiosyncratic neighbor Victor (Boyer) and Corie's widow mother Ethel (Natwick). Nothing is wrong about all that, but the viewing experience is chiefly blighted by Fonda's hammy endeavour to be "funny", her character is irritating to say the least, and her high-pitched voice doesn't help either, surely her hyperactive restlessness is by design, but the effect is cringe-worthy, what is the virtue of this woman (apart from her gymnastic physique)? Maybe it is the gaping generation gap which sours the supposed comedic moment for Generation Y. Also knowing that Simon based the story on his first marriage, it could be a deliberate manoeuvre of aggrandisement with an intent of personal mockery. Redford, on the other hand, is in a safer place of being likable, by the way, he is reprising his role in the original play, he has that kind of awkward charm of "pretty boy entrapped in a nicely-fitting suit", and when it comes to his "barefoot in the park" inebriated caper, he is competent enough to act in a comedy without overdoing what the script offers. But the amorous frisson between him and Fonda has never hit the boiling point, in spite of the fact they kiss a lot in the movie, mostly instigated by the free-spirited Corie, whose aggressive longing and volatility is the killjoy of any romance at all. Veteran theatrical dab hand Mildred Natwick is honoured with an Oscar nomination for rehashing her role in the film version, she both dignifiedly and comically personifies Ethel as possibly "the kindest mother-in-law" ever on the silver screen; also Charles Boyer exhibits a droll poise with his exotic panache, oddly enough, their flirtation seems to be more appealing than our two young protagonists. Anyhow, it is sad to find out there is a Jane Fonda's performance I am wholeheartedly unable to stomach, this is something I could never have expected before watching this substandard Neil Simon flick.