BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

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.

Equinox23 Interesting how people rather would comment on their expectations that have apparently not been met by this movie than on the actual movie. Obviously many reviewers expected just a hilarious comedy and their anticipation at least in their view was disappointed. Well, the odd thing is that The World's Greatest Lover is a hilarious comedy offering very funny scenes, but it is also much more than this, it's a brilliant satire. As such it is a comment on Hollywood and not a very pleasant one, though it is set in an era that had at least according to this portrayal not yet succumbed to the mere business side of filmmaking. What one can see - if one chooses to - is a city completely revolving around make-believe. Everybody is a movie star, everybody behaves like one, may it be Rudy on his arrival at the hotel or Uncle Harry and his family. After all this is the dream factory, which btw is an oxymoron. Yet despite of the absolute irreality of movies, there is a craving for reality and truth at its heart. When Rudy finally wakes up and comes to terms with himself realising his love for Annie, the mostly female audience gets hysterical for this is what they are longing for. Thus this movie can also be viewed as a romantic comedy of a man finally waking up from the dreams and expectations imposed on him, which also runs in his most private, sexual life forcing him to use and apply a manual, to the reality of his own dreams, which he can and will make real.

martinc43 I just saw this recently on DVD. I hadn't seen it since it was first released and couldn't remember it that well. Well, I've reacquainted myself with it and, although I'm genuinely not the one to exploit yiddishisms, my first thought was "Oy!" Somebody tell Gene Wilder to stop screaming! He did some funny shrieks in his previous films, including the Mel Brooks romps, but he kept it at the proper minimum. Here he screams in every scene like he's having his leg amputated with a steak knife and anesthetic was unavailable. Other times he mugs like a bad burlesque comic. The film itself is just as subtle, filled with loud music, heavy handed gags, and cartoon sound effects. The "Modern Times" parody is a major embarrassment. This film isn't even good bad. It's just sad bad. Even Wilder, in his DVD commentary said "They don't make movies like this today, and maybe that's a good thing." And then there's Carol Kane, who is absolutely adorable. In time, she too would become self conscious about her comic abilities (especially after "Taxi"), but here she gives a tender, endearing performance with occasional touches of genuine comedic spark which would be even better if only the material would give her more. The Sex-By-The-Numbers segment is the one truly funny bit in the movie.Those two look like they were made for each other. I'm really surprised they didn't become an item after the movie. Maybe she just couldn't handle the screaming.

willafly I strongly disagree with ptb-8. I love this movie. It's a favorite of mine and it makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. Personally, I think Gene Wilder is a genius. He successfully employs many forms of comedy, including vaudeville which is a rarity in modern film-making and so much fun to watch. Sure it's silly, but it's also a very sweet love story which I find surprisingly moving considering it IS set against a silly comedy. The story is always engaging. The cast is all top-notch: Carol Kane, Dom DeLuise, Carl Ballantine, Ronny Graham, Candy Azzara and of course Mr. Wilder himself, being among my favorites. If you're lucky enough to see this gem, I think you will agree with me. I hope it will be released on DVD soon so that more people can see it.

tedg Spoilers herein. There's a simple kind of film humor, a movie that provides an excuse for an intrinsically funny guy to do his/her thing. And then there are films like this which are themselves funny. In that case, the comedians can inhabit something instead of merely standing on it. Very often, such funny constructions are self-referential films: movies about movies, even movies about themselves as movies. This particular example is great: love (even sex) moving from real life through a pretend life in movieland. Then they come back to real life, but not really: the layers have become combined. We have dozens and dozens of examples of this form in our database. Alas, this one doesn't work so well. Wilder isn't what his name implies. He's the audience, the white space against which a comic maniac (like Zero Mostel in "The Producers") bounces. Carol Kane is more flexible, but of the same stripe. Its an amazing mistake which underscores the reality that much of the time, talented people just guess about what works, using their very limited home world. Too bad. This man -- like many actors who think they can direct -- needed to be saved from himself. Comedy can be left to intuition for a performer, but in sculpting a film, you need to have a theory to work with. That's unless you can make enough noise to substitute, like the Marxes or (sometimes) Robin Williams. Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.