The movie begins with a line of limousines in a funeral procession. Not only that, we soon learn that the main character is already dead. Is this any way to start a comedy?
Well, it is if you’re director Blake Edwards, whose most recent films about the state of affairs between men and women – “10” and Victor/Victoria — have been laced with melancholy and self-reflection as well as the filmmaker’s patented slapstick (he also directed the Pink Panther movies).
In this outing, the story of sculptor David Fowler (Burt Reynolds) is told in flashback, and narrated by the analyst (Julie Andrews) who developed something more than a purely professional relationship with him.
But that’s getting ahead of the story. Through David’s sessions on the couch, we see his multitudinous romantic adventures, which form the bulk of the movie. David’s current mid-life crisis is connected with his lifelong passion for women, and his inability to stay with any one woman for an extended period.
These escapades are wittily staged; especially hilarious is Fowler’s mad trip to Houston, for the unveiling of one of his sculptures, where the lusty wife of a down-home tycoon attacks David with uninhibited libidinous fervor. Unfortunately, this fling takes its toll on David; his bed-hopping is getting more taxing and loss fun.
That’s when he starts to notice that his analyst’s steady manner and shapely legs are beginning to distract him. And that’s when she realizes that she didn’t just change her hairstyle so that it would be easier to manage.
Based on Francois Truffaut’s 1977 film of the same title, the new The Man Who Loved Women is not as good as the original. That much admitted, it should be said that this version has some very nice touches. Edwards never lets the comedy get out of touch with the basic sadness of the situation, which gives the movie a tender quality.
It’s also a fine showcase for Burt Reynolds, who does very well in the uncharacteristic role of the anxiety-ridden artist. He seems relieved to be out from under his redneck car-racer image and be in a real movie for a change, and it shows in his performance.
Edwards and Reynolds have good taste in women. Kim Basinger, as the Houston dynamo, is funny and sexy, and uses her Texas drawl to delightful comic effect. Marilu Henner’s halting, uncertain delivery is very winning.
Edwards offers certain psychoanalytic clues that might explain David’s behavior, and every now and then the movie stops so that people can discuss these ideas. That’s probably a mistake, but maybe that’s what you get when one of the three screenwriters on the film is a practicing clinical psychologist.
If The Man Who Loved Women is uneven, it’s nevertheless charmingly mounted and played. And the ending, while hardly a buoyant finale, hits exactly the right note of sweetness. There’s plenty to like, if not love.
First published in The Herald, December 17, 1983
Lotta Edwards movies in the 80s, which was generally a good thing. I haven’t seen this since it came out; does it get love from Edwards (or Reynolds) mavens? The cast includes Denise Crosby, Cynthia Sikes, and Sela Ward. This was the moment every director seemed to want to employ Basinger, and she is funny here.
WHAT A FEELING! 