Pretty Good

Must See Movie...

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

A television reporter, married to a lawyer, falls for another sharp lady, a lovely musician. Before he knows it, he has two wives...and both are pregnant! By 1984, Dudley Moore's film choices (mostly comedies) were starting to congeal, and with each new release came a sigh of resignation that he was never going to be Arthur again. Blake Edwards (who directed in Moore in "10") allows his star too much time to work his way into comedic fitful states, and continually dotes on Moore as the diminutive actor scurries from room to room. Still, this screenplay by Jonathan Reynolds has a witty edge (and Edwards, naturally, embraces its wild slapstick bent), resulting in some very bright, often very funny sequences. As the ladies in Dudley's life, Ann Reinking and Amy Irving are both terrific, helping Moore and Edwards turn out their best film in years. **1/2 from ****

Reporter Rob Salinger (Dudley Moore) is married to ambitious Micki (Ann Reinking). He wants a baby--she doesn't. He meets sweet Maude (Amy Irving) and starts having an affair with her. Then he ends up getting them both pregnant! OK bigamy isn't funny--but this is just a movie that's not to be taken seriously. It's (for Blake Edwards) very sweet-natured and gentle. It does have his usual slapstick humor but also has some nice funny verbal jokes and is very romantic. Moore is great--he tones down his usual manic persona and gives a very affecting performance. Richard Mulligan also is great as his boss and pal Leo. Amy Irving is just incredibly beautiful and sweet. There's also a hysterical visit to a doctors office and the end when Moore goes full blast in a hospital. There's also a bit with nude male models with guns that's an eyeopener. This is far from perfect however. It takes its own sweet time getting started and doesn't even have an ending--it just sort of stops. Also Reinking is pretty bad in her role. She manages to overact AND underact at the same time--but she's known more for her dancing then acting. All in all a sweet, funny and romantic comedy. I give it an 8.

Dudley Moore is a television news reporter married to lawyer Anne Reinking (Micki). They are in love - deeply in love - but she is committed to her legal career. This means working overtime on her cases and briefs. So Moore is unhappy about seeing so little of her. He needs to be in a closer relationship with his wife.His producer/friend Richard Mulligan sends him on an assignment to cover a female string ensemble whose cellist is Amy Irving (Maude). In demonstrating how "through the magic of creative cutting" he will be able to appear on camera asking her questions that she answered already, Dudley and Amy start chatting. And he takes her to dinner. And soon they are in love - deeply in love.Well Dudley decides to tell Anne it's all over, but discovers her awaiting him with good news: she is pregnant! Well he can't leave a pregnant wife...so he returns to Amy to tell her it is all over. But she is awaiting him. She's pregnant too! He can't desert her now either. In fact, he has to marry her.As mentioned in another of the various comments here, the opening does drag a little, but MICKI & MAUDE is one of those films that starts slow, and then goes wild. Moore (with some assistance from pal Mulligan) has to marry Amy, and keep her and Anne happy in their separate pregnancies without them knowing of each other. The marriage is difficult enough (he runs into Anne's parents outside of the church that Amy and he are about to be wed in). The difficulties of working enough to support two families (helped out by the fact that both wives are working too) is exhausting - though Mulligan tries to help. Finally both wives are using two obstetricians (George Gaynes and Wallace Shawn) who share the same offices. They and their two patients are kept in the dark, but their nurse (Lu Leonard) is fully aware of what is going on and disgusted by it.A typical combination of slapstick (which Moore handles well) and one liners that Edwards is famous in his movies for, MICKI & MAUDE works very nicely as a comedy. If not the best comedy in Dudley Moore's career, it comes close (especially in the conclusion to the two pregnancies at the hospital - where as a special treat Moore stumbles onto a third, unexpected secret). In the end, facing the wreckage of two marriages or whatever, the three leads have to invent some type of arrangement that will satisfy everyone...or will it?

"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.