THE WOMAN IN RED. Directed and written by Gene Wilder; produced by Victor Dari for Orion. Starring Gene Wilder, Kelly LeBrock and Charles Grodin. Rated PG-13 (subject matter).
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I guess I'm never satisfied.
Most of Gene Wilder's older movies were too frantic. You never got a chance to savor the good comic bits. But this latest Wilder effort goes too far the other way. It has its moments, but in general is too plodding. Good comedies don't have to be non-stop gags. But the pauses should mean something, and they don't in The Woman in Red.
The movie opens with Teddy (Wilder) on a window ledge 9 floors up, wondering how he got there. Most of the story is a flashback telling us how.
Teddy's uneventful existence is disrupted when he sees the title character Charlotte (LeBrock) for the first time. From then on all of his actions relate to finding her, getting together with her and hiding all this from his wife.
A good part of the movie works successfully. LeBrock really is stunning and it's easy to understand Teddy's infatuation. (Seeing his appeal for her is a little harder, however.) She's not just a pretty face, either. Her performance is a good blend of mystery and humor.
Wilder displays his usual inspired craziness in several scenes. He throws a couple of classic temper tantrums setting up alibis to cover attempted rendezvous with Charlotte. And the horseback riding scenes are vintage Wilder.
But he tries to give Teddy a more realistic dimension as well. The scenes which emphasize realism don't work very well and eventually bog the movie down.
Grodin is another comedian who tempers his usually hilarious style here. His character, Buddy, a friend of Teddy's, is more successful, however. This is true partly because he's not on screen as much, so Buddy is less subject to scrutiny. But he is also more consistent.
There is one funny but somewhat tasteless scene in a posh restaurant where Buddy pretends to be blind. But otherwise Grodin is more restrained than usual, although still entertaining.
Gilda Radner also turns in a lowkey but funny performance as a co-worker of Teddy's. Her character is a real plus for the movie at first. But it turns into a liability when she's rather abruptly dropped from the story. I spent the last third of the movie hoping she would show up again.
The Woman in Red has the plot of a sophisticated sex farce. But unfortunately, that is not Wilder's best element. Like the clown who wants to play Hamlet, he's like Groucho Marx wanting to be Cary Grant.
There's nothing wrong with off-the-wall, slapstick comedy, when it's done well. Wilder should stick to it.
September 12, 1984