Who payed the critics

Absolutely brilliant

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A NEW LEAF is Elaine May's triple threat caper, marks her director debut and pairs with a puffy Walter Matthau, plays Henry Graham, a middle-aged, blue-blooded, marriage-scorning boulevardier, who must find a rich wife within 6 weeks, otherwise, he will go bankrupt and lose all his property to his avaricious uncle (Coco).Certainly Henry has no one else but himself to blame for the disastrous situation just because he is very ill-equipped to administer his own financial affairs, and splurges money as he wishes, a privilege for those who are born with a silver spoon. But he is absolutely has no desire to put an end to his free-as-a-bird bachelor lifestyle, so, here is his plan, find a suitable bride, marry her, then murder her, so he can inherit all her money and stay single as longer as he prefers.That's the premise of Henry meets Henrietta (May, in her trademark oversized spectacles), an unassuming, socially clumsy bachelorette, a botanist, well-heeled thanks to her late father, no families or relatives, all alone in this vast world, she is tailor-made for Henry and most importantly, she is quite fond of him. Henry's courtship goes extremely smooth although he finds her inept nature is too repugnant to endure, downgrades her from "primitive" to "regressive". Despite of a droll proposal (Henry kneels down on the broken glasses) and the intended sabotage from his uncle and Henrietta's long-time suitor-cum-lawyer Andy McPherson (Weston), within one week, they are hitched! A snapshot of their honeymoon looks like this, Henry is reading BEGINNERS GUIDE TO TOXICOLOGY in the foreground while Henrietta in the background, is trying to reach for a rare fern growing under the tip of a cliff with only one of her legs fastened to a rope. Get rid of that book and lend her a hand, Henry!Back from the honeymoon, to Henry's dismay, he finds out that Henrietta, not just a incorrigibly daffy and geeky type, she is also categorically the most incompetent person ever, to run an estate, whose over-diplomatic policy vis-à-vis her house staff, headed by the housekeeper Mrs. Traggert (a flirty Doris Roberts), obliges Henry to take the liberty and execute an overhaul of the shameless parasites, then get acquainted with the financial status and even take an interest of the taxes management in order to get the place running proper. His trustworthy butler Harold (Rose, epitomises a dying species of his own) detects Henry's intention, implies that maybe this is not an ill-fit match after all, it might be Henrietta's cosmic incompetence that spurs Henry's strength of will to run such a huge property with a confident hand, aka. she makes him a better, more capable man.But, that doesn't completely change Henry's conviction when a golden chance emerges, Henry agrees to join Henrietta in her annual field trip to the Adirondacks, just two of them, in the wild, on a canoe, through the torrents. Will he relent when the crunch arrives? Maybe he can take an alternative, sticks to the marriage with her, he could even teach history in the university, as Henrietta constantly cajoles, above all, she shows her genuine affection through the only thing she is good at, gifts him a form of immortality, if that could not soften a man's murderous heart, what else could?Undeterred by its murder-centred wickedness, A NEW LEAF predictably but adequately extracts a heartwarming and life-affirming message out of its outré and farcical story-line (if a bit too patriarchal for my palate), a welcoming chemistry comes off naturally between Matthau and May, which would prompt their second on-screen collaboration in Herbert Ross' less whimsical ensemble piece California SUITE (1978). May's directorial dexterity doesn't leave a strong imprint, nevertheless, as a dark comedy with an agenda too quirky to find either relevance or credibility, it has a level-headed through-line to stick with without pandering to cheap laughter or offensive caricature which most of its peers had done or would have done, and eventually offers a populist suggestion that we might give marriage a try no matter how poles apart the two parties are, and sometimes a sweet compromise is not that unthinkably bad.

Elaine May's directorial debut may be a disappointment but it's a noble disappointment: there's no question that May found herself working in then-uncharted territory, trying to find a naturalistic, semi-improvisational comedic style not generally seen in films of the period. Clearly her influence can be found in the works of masters like Albert Brooks (especially in the use of long takes) and the urbane Woody Allen that would emerge with "Annie Hall". But that doesn't solve the problem of "A New Leaf", which meanders along at its own fitful pace and with May's interests kept pretty much private; she doesn't seem to want to let the audience in on her inner workings and what's important to her never really translates to the viewer. Walter Matthau plays a roué who finds himself suddenly broke and must find a wealthy wife in order to settle his debts, finding her in May's naive, clumsy spinster. May's screenplay, her first, never allows her characters to come alive: Matthau hides behind a wall of continual indignation and May, with her staring and stammering, just isn't that funny; the two are played too broadly to connect with each other, let alone the audience. As an artist, May knows what she wants but struggles to develop it and the darkness she hints at (Matthau constantly contemplates murder) doesn't become a plot point until the end and then becomes an unwanted pathos. (That darkness would later find fuller expression in "Mikey And Nicky".) While it's apparent that her approach to comedy is a new one, here she hasn't yet developed the chops that would make "A New Leaf" work.

Recently I've caught a number of Walter Matthau films on cable. Matthau was long a favorite of mine since I first really noticed him as more than a character actor (which was probably when my mother and I went to see "The Odd Couple", which doesn't seem quite so funny now, but had us in stitches back in 1968). Seeing some of Matthau's old films recently reminded me of just how good he was, after taking him for granted for so many years. He could do character roles (as most of his early career was; and many were impressive) or starring roles. He could do drama (such as "First Monday In October") or comedy.This particular film -- "A New Leaf" -- is one of Matthau's best. Certainly, as with almost any film, more than one actor could play the starring role. But Matthau had a certain persona which allowed him to make this role in this film his own. Had anyone else been the star, it would have been a VERY different film. What Matthau could do with dead pan was amazing. The early scenes in this movie, where Matthau's character learns that he is dead broke are just hilarious. Hilarious writing, to be sure, but also hilarious because of that Matthau persona. I can't think of another actor who could have handled those scenes in that way. Yes, Matthau was relatively unique...and that's why we liked him so much as to make him a major star in an everyday body.And that's true about this film, too. It's interesting to read the Wikipedia article about the film, which was Elaine May's creation. Thankfully, the big bosses at Paramount didn't allow her to have her way with the final film. Would we really want to sit through 3 hours of a film in which Matthau actually becomes a murderer? I don't think so...and neither did Matthau. May's version would have justified murder (which isn't usually very funny), while this version shows redemption (of both main characters, though mostly of Matthau's character). But what is good about this film is that it doesn't seem to be a rehash of a lot of other films. Like Matthau's performance, the film is relatively unique. Oddly enough, as widely respected as the film was at the time (in terms of reviewers), it was not very successful at the box office. Yet, I still see it as a gem.In addition to Walter Matthau, the movie also stars Elaine May in as good a role as she ever had on the big screen. I always saw May as a "niche" actress, and this is her niche. It was nice to see an actor -- James Coco -- who I had pretty much forgotten about; he's funny here. George Rose is excellent here as the butler. Jack Weston -- one of those character actors who usually played pretty much the same part -- is perfect here as the shady lawyer. And, it's interesting to see a relatively young Doris Roberts, although her part is not large.I'm quite enamored with this film, although it still only get's my "7" for being a very watchable and enjoyable film. But I highly recommend it.

I have caught this on TCM more then once and while browsing through exotic car ads thought about it again. If you are in the middle class like me, and have rubbed elbows with the truly upper class (like me, grew up in Manhattan, I looked up an apartment I grew up in poor, it's selling for $3 million dollars now, I was surrounded by stinking rich people growing up and I was middle class poor) you will especially like this film. The reason why it's so funny? IT'S TRUE! Isn't that the best comedy? I mean yes the rich are portrayed in many comedies but for whatever reason, this one nails them. All of them, because like the poor there are many different personalities. It is also hilarious with it's depiction of the middle class so yes it's funny all around. There are lines in this movie that I vividly remember but my all time favorite, the all time gut buster that I attach to my own life when I lose a bundle of money in stocks? The part where Matthau talks to his accountant and realizes he has spent everything and he is walking in the streets aimlessly talking to himself "I'm poor" oh my god, that is just one of the most hilarious movie scenes ever. You have got to see this film if you know how the sheltered rich are, it is hilarious. 10 of 10.