the audience applauded

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Young newlyweds moving into their first NYC apartment in the village, and a tiny 5th floor walk-up too. He a stuffy conservative, she a free-spirit played by the young Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. I lived in a tiny NYC apartment very similar to the one in this movie in my 20's, but that was back in the 90's and the rent was $1,025.00 and not the $125.00 that Paul and Corie are paying here. Seeing this 1960's version of my old apartment and of NYC was part of this films fun for me. Redford, Fonda, Boyer, and Natwick are all quite good here too, but Mildred Natwick is especially winning as Fonda's mother. Reading some of the other reviews I sense that Neil Simon's name being attached to a production brings with it quite a bit of baggage/expectations. My viewing did not suffer this association. Yes, some of it is dated but why does that always have to be such a detraction for so many viewers. I went into this film with no expectations and an open mind and found it genuinely enjoyable and all of its characters likable. Did I bust a gut laughing so hard? No, but I was pleasantly amused throughout.

All the glowing reviews astonish me. The ridiculous behaviors and reactions of the female characters bewilder me. How anyone could call this film "delightful" or "sparkling" is beyond me. Out of one hour, forty-six minutes and fifty-one seconds, I managed to hang on for approximately an hour and a half. But then I decided, no, there's no possible finale that could make up for the stupidity of what I have heretofore witnessed. So I quit and am writing this review. Save your money. Save your time. Save your hope for an enjoyable comedy for another day!

Since the first time I saw a Jane Fonda film which (believe it or not) wasn't until Monster-in-Law (which I loved and she was amazing in...I don't care what anyone says) I've been a fan. Now with the amazing Netflix series Grace and Frankie, I'm hooked! I've also been a huge fan of Robert Redford's since I was a boy so the two of them together appealed to me! They both have incredible charisma on screen so how could this go wrong? Well it doesn't. The two of them are great and the film is cute and funny sometimes but I feel like this particular Neil Simon play doesn't translate quite as well from stage to screen as some of his other works. The running gags (living so high up, all the stairs, the guy in the attic, the tiny cramped quarters) just don't seem to be as funny as they think it is. The characters do grow on you by the end but in the beginning Jane Fonda's character is scary obsessive and irritating. I don't know if that's the point and its another running gag but she was a little scary. Then she starts to build a slightly more normal personality and Redford and her click a little better but even still the story stumbled around and just seems like it belongs on stage.Jane Fonda is and was full of energy and this is a good role for her. She's happy and hyper and full of pep and once the scary obsessive role is quashed, she is better. Robert Redford is good as her straight laced new husband but I feel like this role is simply too bland for him. If it was anyone but Redford, they would get lost in such a bland role but his charisma wins out. He doesn't get enough truly slapstick moments outside of his drunken scene near the end. Mildred Natwick is good as Fonda's mother who lets loose when she meets the man in the attic. Natwick actually gets some of the best scenes and is probably the most fun in the entire cast. Charles Boyer and Harry Pepper are both decent in small supporting roles and definitely add a hint of fun to the cast.I can absolutely see this being a good play but just in general I don't feel like this is Neil Simon's best work by far. The characters just don't have a lot of depth and the story feels almost rushed. Gene Saks started a small directorial career with this film and followed it with the classic Odd Couple (which I'm not sure I've ever seen believe it or not) but I'm just not sure he had what was necessary to make this memorable. The set is so simple (often the case when translating a play to screen) that it requires a strong, fast paced, funny plot but this one is just okay. It literally holds its own thanks to Fonda and Redford being the stars that they are. Otherwise it is a forgettable experience. 6/10

Another film adaptation of Neil Simon's play with the same name, directed by his frequent collaborator, the stage and film directer Gene Saks, who has recently passed away at the age of 93. It pairs Fonda and Redford as a couple of newlyweds Corie and Paul, whose marriage is hanging on a thread when they find out their personalities are poles apart. Like the outworn running gag of climbing a five-storey building (New Yorkers are really that easy to be defeated by this not-so-challenging altitude?), the film doesn't weather too well through the time, its story is quite common-or-garden, the adventurous spirit Vs. the prudent comportment, which is also reflected by pairing up their idiosyncratic neighbor Victor (Boyer) and Corie's widow mother Ethel (Natwick). Nothing is wrong about all that, but the viewing experience is chiefly blighted by Fonda's hammy endeavour to be "funny", her character is irritating to say the least, and her high-pitched voice doesn't help either, surely her hyperactive restlessness is by design, but the effect is cringe-worthy, what is the virtue of this woman (apart from her gymnastic physique)? Maybe it is the gaping generation gap which sours the supposed comedic moment for Generation Y. Also knowing that Simon based the story on his first marriage, it could be a deliberate manoeuvre of aggrandisement with an intent of personal mockery. Redford, on the other hand, is in a safer place of being likable, by the way, he is reprising his role in the original play, he has that kind of awkward charm of "pretty boy entrapped in a nicely-fitting suit", and when it comes to his "barefoot in the park" inebriated caper, he is competent enough to act in a comedy without overdoing what the script offers. But the amorous frisson between him and Fonda has never hit the boiling point, in spite of the fact they kiss a lot in the movie, mostly instigated by the free-spirited Corie, whose aggressive longing and volatility is the killjoy of any romance at all. Veteran theatrical dab hand Mildred Natwick is honoured with an Oscar nomination for rehashing her role in the film version, she both dignifiedly and comically personifies Ethel as possibly "the kindest mother-in-law" ever on the silver screen; also Charles Boyer exhibits a droll poise with his exotic panache, oddly enough, their flirtation seems to be more appealing than our two young protagonists. Anyhow, it is sad to find out there is a Jane Fonda's performance I am wholeheartedly unable to stomach, this is something I could never have expected before watching this substandard Neil Simon flick.