Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

rooprect I don't own a single Sonny & Cher album, but I thought this film was fantastic. What's not to love about this movie? It's a time capsule to the outrageous 60s where comedy didn't have to make sense to be funny, singers didn't have to be on pitch to sound great, and plots didn't have to be fairytale-simple in order to entertain.Indeed, the plot of this movie revolves around Sonny & Cher's contract to make a movie and their apprehension to the screenwriter's sappy story. Rather than go along with a lame Hollywood regurgitation of a "sure thing", they take us on a series of trippy brainstorms, showing us how *they* would make a movie. It's weird, it's wacky, at times it's incomprehensible, but it is undoubtedly unique.This film is basically 3 stories within a story. The first is a western, the second is a jungle flick, and the third is a film noir detective story (in brilliant colour, no less). The comedy is hilarious if it's your style. It's sort of a madcap, deadpan, surrealistic sense of humour a lot like The Monkees TV show (or the Monkees film "Head"), a bit of Gilligan's Island with its intelligent slapstick, and toward the end it's a lot like "Airplane" with its utterly bizarre, over-the-top satire. Definitely stick around for the detective story which is my favourite of the lot. Anyone who's a fan of the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker films ("Airplane", "Naked Gun", "Top Secret", "Hot Shots") should get a kick out of that sequence.The tunes (again, I know nothing about Sonny & Cher except for "Babe I Got You Babe" from the movie Groundhog Day) are thoroughly entertaining even when they're rough around the edges. Apparently Sonny Bono was sort of a Bob Dylan kinda guy who didn't have the most impeccable voice but knew how to deliver a lyric. Cher belts out those notes like she's a cannon, and that might shock those of you who are used to today's more demure, sultry vocal style. But as we see toward the end, Cher has tremendous versatility in her voice, and she is just as capable of a soft ballad as she is a throat wrencher. To me, the payoff is "I Got You Babe" acoustic version which is delivered at the end in a very subdued & classy way (not the version from Groundhog Day) which immediately clinched it: I'm a Sonny & Cher fan.Oh, a quick word about the film quality & directing style: magnificent. The DVD I got is the MGM version released in 2004, and although there are no bonus features, the picture is as crisp and vivid as anything done today (perhaps it's been digitally remastered). The director William Freidkin who did, of all things "The Exorcist", throws in some nice artistic touches and creative shots that should be of interest to any cinema geeks in the audience; if nothing else, it's weird to think the same director would, 5 years later, be filming demon girls vomiting pea soup and telling priests nasty things about their mothers. All around, this is a great film which truly deserves a cult following, if only more people knew it existed. Snatch it up if you get a chance.

CitizenCaine Back in early 1967, when Good Times was released, someone must have had the grand notion that this would be entertaining. It's essentially a warm-up for what viewers later saw between 1971 and 1974 on the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. George "what am I doing in this film?" Sanders plays an egotistical filmmaker who makes a deal with Sonny & Cher to make a movie. Sonny fantasizes about playing a sheriff, Tarzan, and a private detective. In between the fantasy scenarios, songs by one or both of the duo are presented. The sheriff scenario and especially the Tarzan scenario are both pretty silly, yielding maybe a few chuckles. The private detective skit is laugh-out-loud funny. Cher shows early on the talent she had to play the comic foil, as well as disappear into any role she played. Sonny is pretty much out of place throughout most of the film, and this explains why he went into politics and left show business: he was never that talented to begin with. Guys will get a charge out of ogling Cher at 20 years old wearing some groovy fashions of the day. William Friedkin made his feature film directorial debut with this film. I suppose there are much worse ways to make a directorial debut, and Friedkin shows off with some good camera angles, especially in the detective scenario. Look fast for an ode to Cagney's Public Enemy at the beginning of the detective skit. Along with the earlier Beatles' film Help!, one of the earliest movies to film pop stars in a less than completely musical setting. It's a time capsule from 1967 to be sure, complete with psychedelic/kaleidoscopic transitions between scenes. ** of 4 stars.

Clay Loomis This flick is only viewable by those that have a huge amount of pot, and even then, it's a tough go. For guys, there is some redeeming value at being able to see Cher before she had her face screwed up by a doctor. And she DOES have a nice singing voice.The late 60's were a strange time for movies, and this is a really good example. Far out, groovy, and bitchin' don't quite describe it. Jaw-dropping in its silliness, apparently nobody had any shame in 1967 Hollywood.And Sonny, with that shaggy Beatles hair! Gosh, we were odd back then.Best avoided if ANYTHING else is on.

moonspinner55 Pop-singing duo (and mod-dressed lovebirds) Sonny & Cher are tapped to star in their own movie, but the couple are distressed over the corny script. Sonny Bono's soundtrack to "Good Times", which he produced and arranged (impeccably so), sounds like the very best of Phil Spector; the songs may give non-fans a glimpse at true musical genius. Unfortunately, all this aural greatness comes at the expense of a wayward, throw-away feature. Sonny & Cher spend most of their time on-screen bickering in a too-real example of marital discord. Debuting director William Friedkin stuffs the proceedings with eye-candy, but he can't get any momentum going in the fantasy scenes and they just peter out. It's a strenuous comedy, the biggest mistake of which was to plunk the leads down in the middle of so much unhappiness. They don't want to make the movie, they're being forced to make the movie, they fight about compromising their ideals about making the damn movie. Only the opening and closing montages are sunny, the rest is much too heavy--even with all that groovy music in the background. ** from ****