Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

secondtake If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)A complete throwaway, and delightful, entertainment, with a charming Suzanne Pleshette as the sporadic leading lady in a romantic comedy set all over Europe. As the tour bus glides its way through the usual hot spots, in a typical (to this day) whirlwind race through major capitals from London to Rome, we see a playful satire of down home American types out of their element. It has funny moments, and some good comic actors, but it's almost thrown together and the story, whatever its short laughs, is pretty thin stuff.But then, a lot of comedies have no desire to be great films, and don't even worry about plot so much as finding some way under heaven to get as many funny situations in an hour and a half as possible. Pleshette I think is meant to play a kind of simpler American Audrey Hepburn, and she really does have a spark and sincerity on screen that works. She falls in love with the tour guide, a sharply dressed British fellow who seems more 1963 than 1969 (picture John Lennon by 1969) played by Ian McShane, an appealing but easily caricatured type. The rest of the cast is only present for gags and one liners, including a few very cameo cameos that get a lot of attention but are hardly worth watching the film for.The one exception, though, is a complete run through of Donovan singing "Lord of the Reedy River" in his faint precious tenor, alone on his guitar, surrounded by a room full of strung out kids dressed in perfect hippie clothes, a poster of Che on the wall. The movie makers knew this was a small coup, Donovan being at the time still a famous remnant of the early folk and folk rock movement (and a famous part of the Bob Dylan tour of England in 1965). A crude youtube version (with subtitles) is here: http://youtu.be/7M4D2B18cz8. Another reviewer notes that this is a truly "retro" film and what they really mean is that this isn't retro at all but it's the real deal, 1969 in 1969, and is a kind of capsule of some characteristic aspects of the time. It's a frivolous version of those scenes, from the exaggerated Italian extended family in Venice to the dancing to Swiss traditional music, but it does show a common liberation of the time, including a painfully sexist amateur photographer who photographs girls in miniskirts in each and every country as a kind of countdown. Of course, the director makes the movie equally sexist in the process, gawking at each of the models (victims?) as it goes. Harmless fun for some, cheesy demeaning distraction for others, and typical of many 1960s movies either way.Overall it's fun and funny and a joyful film, rather upbeat in more ways than just the humor. It's not New Hollywood, there is no socially cutting edge here, and no filming innovations (aside from some playful fast edits). But it tours the viewer through some wonderful, if well known, parts of Western Europe and has some laughs. And it has a beautifully unexpected ending, very poignant after all. Thank you Suzanne Pleshette.

moonspinner55 Sketch-like comedy with mod trappings has a group of griping American tourists (including Murray Hamilton, Norman Fell and Mildred Natwick) taking in the sights of Great Britian and Europe by bus, each displaying his or her own (irritating) idiosyncrasies. Crass picture filled with characters one would hope to avoid in this lifetime, although Suzanne Pleshette's beauty is a visual compensation. The jokes are obvious, and director Mel Stuart can't wring any fresh laughs out of them--although he does manage to shoehorn into this scenario everyone from John Cassavetes to pop singer Donovan! Wears thin quickly. Remade as a television movie in 1987. *1/2 from ****

jemdoll Even though I was born a couple of decades after this movie was released, I wanted to watch it when it played on TV because it was given a perfect 5/5 rating by my local newspaper's TV listings. When I tuned in, I was even more excited when I found out that it was a David Wolper and Mel Stuart collaboration because I really loved 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.' It's a shame that 'If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium' is not available on DVD. Even though it was made about 30 years ago, the misadventures of the ensemble cast are as funny as ever. The fine balance between the witty humor and acerbic banter in this movie is something that is rare in movies today. The only movies that come close are a few of Wes Anderson's (Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic), but instead of being faux retro, 'If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium' really is retro. It shows all of Europe's fabled landmarks in the tongue-and-cheek manner that you can't get from any movie unless it really was made in 1969. I liked the part when the group was at a cheese market in Amsterdam and the tour guide says, "There's an auction of gouda cheeses and edam cheeses. And pretty good-a edam cheeses they are." That is like so corny it's funny. After watching this movie, I actually did want to take a European bus tour! But the best thing about this movie is its great cast, particularly the beautiful Suzanne Pleshette and the devilishly handsome Ian McShane.

mdm-11 An all-star cast of 1960s comedians embark on a guided tour to see 9 European countries in 18 days. A very attractive "pre-Bob" Suzanne Plechette is the focus of a young tour guide (and the film), who sees the successful American tourist as his ultimate amorous challenge. Through many very funny situations involving the colorful cast, the two leads eventually fall in love. At the end of the trip Suzanne must choose between champagne and caviar in her metropolitan US home or cheese with cheap wine with a sincere, but common man in Europe. What would Leona do?This lighthearted entertainment certainly reflects the times it was filmed in (1969). American tourists had rightfully earned a certain "reputation" regarding their adventures in Europe (including the affairs of American servicemen in WWII). I was put off more by the constant negative remarks from the Suzanne Plechette character. She acted like a total snob and alienated herself from the other tour members (and the audience) with her superior attitude. I think that not even Bob Newhart (as the bumbling psychiatrist) is man enough for this over-the-top emancipated "woman". This major flaw overshadows an otherwise very pleasant film.