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FILM REVIEWGould Right At Home Racy New Comedy•lt;HIIBy CLINT ERNEY Register Staff WriterI Will, I Will. .. For Now” is one of the best movie comedies of the year. . . for now.Of course, this is easy to proclaim because the year is young. “I Will,” which opened in the county Wednesday, may provide incentive for future productions in the genre.Anyway, this film has a precedent — A Touch of Class.” Those who liked the earlier Glenda Jackson-George Segal starrer may like “I WillThen again, they may not because “I Will” lacks thecontinental charm and sophistication of the earlier vehicle. In short, it ain't got the class.Brut Productions, probably knowing it had to go some in order to equal or surpassClass,” added a third party to the staple boy girl, man-woman situation. The result is a risque menage et trois played for laughs by:— Elliott Gould as Le* Bingham, a $250,000 a year partner in some sort of New Yorkdevelopment firm In a role best suited to his talents, Gould radiates a sort of hirsute em-builience as a chauffeur-driven compulsive gambling womanizer.— Diane Keaton as Katie Bingham now divorced from Les after a 10-year marriage is mildly attractive and mildly ingratiating in an uneven role. Basically, she is a humorless housefrau with hangups about cleaning ash trays and ribaldtalk and action. But occasionally, she drops a funny line which results in the inconsistency of her character which Mr. Bingham at one point candidly labels “frigid.— Paul Sorvino as lawyer Lou Springer is a sort of dark comedic Pagliacci in red bathrobe smitten by the charms (?) of Mrs. Bingham. Sorvino can do the light hearted comedy bit atone like a slandup comedian but he isn’t much atreacting to the comedic touches of the others.— Victoria Principal i* a foxy, young wife from Mrs Bingham's building. Neglected by her businessman-husband, she has eyes for Mr. Bingham(and vice versa). Victoria it luacioua — from the waiat up. She doesn’t need to act. And she doesn’t.The plot has the divorced Binghams getting together again in what can orUy be described as a marriage by contract. This takes place early on after the couple attend the wedding (?) of Mrs. Bingham’s sister. Example:“Do you the party of the first part intend to uphold these contractual obligations with the party of the second part so help you — breach of contract?. .. (Is this the new wave of marriages? If so, lawyers will love this flick).Anyway, to make a short, risque story shorter, the Binghams reconcile via contract as drafted (cagily, craftily andwith contractual pressures onthe husband) by counselor Sorvino. That's because he’s got eyes for Frau Bingham.Aias, poor contract. Poor Bingham finds himself doing housecleamng instead of getting out to a ballgame on which he has a big bet.Not content to rest with the usual indiscretions, director Norman Panama, with the racy writing assistance of Albert Lewin, sends the quibbling couple to a sex counselor. He sends them to a (cost $5,000) sex clinic (asylum?) in the Santa Barbara area where they can bathe together in a big . wooden tub and partake of other sensual delights This results in a game which results in a nonsensical but,nevertheless, madcap-keystone comedy reunion with the couple from their building in New York.When this is sorted out the Binghams return to Gotham where he’s hit with the sudden realization as to who's been fooling around with his wife The audience knows all along but Panama deftly maintains a state of comedic suspense on how things will turn out.Panama saves a comic twist for his ending which is anything but short and sweet. It's too drawn out as is the entire film but the veteran director gets in a last laugh clown, laugh clown. ..
Newspaper Details
Orange County Register
Orange, California, US
Thu, Mar 04, 1976
Page 57
Full Page
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USA 09 Jul 2020
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