Such a frustrating disappointment

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The plot for "Good Neighbor Sam" is quite simple and very funny. Sam Bissell (Jack Lemmon) just has to pose as Howard Ebbets (Mike Connors). "Howie" is the recently divorced husband of Janet (Romy Schneider). Janet is the girlhood best friend of Sam's wife, Minerva (Dorothy Provine). The ruse is just to be for a few days to fool a private detective (Louis Nye) that Janet's cousins Jack (Charles Lane) and Irene (Anne Seymour) have hired to spy on the Ebbets. The cousins have greed in their minds, because if Janet isn't happily married to her hubby, she forfeits the $15 million inheritance she is to receive from her uncle's will. The cousins would be next in line to get the dough. The ID switch is concocted after Janet flies into San Francisco from Paris to settle her uncle's estate. She hasn't seen "Minny" since "Min" and Sam were married several years before. Sam and Min have a couple of daughters who have just gone off to camp for a week. This is plain enough and would be sufficient for a good comedy by itself. But more complications enter with Sam's job in an advertising agency when his false marriage comes into play. The agency's new big client, Simon Nurdlinger (Edward G. Robinson) is looking for the perfect wholesome, clean and happily married family for a big ad campaign that Sam dreamed up in the first place. And, the agency photographer snaps the make-believe couple as Janet drops Sam off at work. The real Howard comes looking for his recently divorced wife in hopes of a reunion. Now the ruse involves a foursome. This confuses the neighbors, the milkman, the mailman and any number of others when the switched couples leave their next door homes in the morning. But the humor reaches a crescendo when Sam's neighbor and coworker, Earl (Robert Q. Lewis) points out the new billboards around the city that have Sam and Janet's picture as Mr. and Mrs. Bissell who endorse Nurdlinger milk. If the detective the cousins hired sees that Sam is not Howard Ebbets, Janet's $15 million will go down the drain. The detective has cornered Sam and for $500 he will give him the photos he took of Sam sneaking over from his house (Janet's) at night for a rendezvous with the neighbor's wife (Min, his real wife and home). That's before Howie appears on the scene, whom the detective thinks is Mr. Bissell. Sam will gladly pay the detective the $500 rather than have him learn about the ruse and earn a big chunk for getting the $15 million for his clients, Janet's cousins. Oh, yes. Janet is going to give Min and Sam $1 million of her inheritance for being such good friends and helping her carry off the ruse. What follows next is some of the best action comedy ever filmed. Sam is giving the detective a ride home when Sam spots the first billboard. He does a quick turn so the detective won't see it. Sam's car is a convertible, and the two go on a continuous zigzag speeding course reminiscent of Keystone Kops scenes from an old silent film. After dropping off the disheveled detective, Sam arrives at home and loads ladders, paint buckets, brushes, pails and coveralls in his car. They have to paint over the faces on a dozen major billboards around the city at night – before the next morning. Min and Howie have had enough. The money doesn't mean that much to them. But Sam and Janet tear off on a jaunt that just keeps the laughter rolling. They paint funny faces, Frankenstein monsters and weird and hilarious faces on the billboards. Watching this, I realized that Columbia Pictures actually had such billboards made and put up somewhere, and that they shot at different locations as the two performers painted the very funny faces. There are some other surprise twists in this as well. Even though this description gives the plot away, it won't detract from one's enjoyment of this film. The comedy is mostly in the situations and action. What a great laugh vehicle this film is. It's a wonderful comedy to have in any film collection. The kids should enjoy the running around, face painting, car scenes and Sam's gizmo in his backyard.

When Good Neighbor Sam was released in 1964 Jack Lemmon was being taken seriously as a dramatic actor as well as a light comic actor as witnessed by the rave reviews he got for The Apartment and Days of Wine and Roses. While Good Neighbor Sam doesn't stack up against those two films in Lemmon's career, it's still an amusing and pleasing romp.Have you ever noticed how many films like Good Neighbor Sam start out with a mistaken impression? Through a lie told by Romy Schneider who is the good neighbor that Sam has, people in her life and in his get the impression that they are married. He's married to Dorothy Provine and she's married to Michael Connors. And both for their own reasons have to keep the deception up. All the situations the principal players get into stem from the original white lie.It would be so much easier if everyone told the truth from the gitgo, but then we wouldn't have a movie.Lots of familiar names pop up here in support. Edward Andrews as the unctuous boss of the advertising agency Lemmon works for, Louis Nye as the creative private detective who gets it wrong, and last but not definitely not least Edward G. Robinson as the puritanical dairy king.Minor league Lemmon, but still fun. And as another reviewer says, that theme is unforgettable. You'll have it in your brain for days.

"Good Neighbor Sam" bombed big time when it was released in 1964. At the time I thought, "What a shame. This is Jack Lemmon's best comedic acting in years, and this is a pleasant movie."Looking at it now, I understand why "Good Neighbor Sam" was a failure. For one thing, it's way overplotted (there's enough subplots for THREE sparkling comedies). It's played at the sitcom level and runs over two hours. The "domestic violence" subplot is disturbing, even for the times. However, it is still funny, beautifully cast (especially Lemmon, Dorothy Provine, Romy Schneider and Edward G. Robinson) and mostly gentle satire (the Hertz commercial retakes are a hoot). Best of all, the "billboard defacing," which happens near the end of the movie is the funniest sequence of all, meaning "Good Neighbor Sam" NEVER lets up.Special note should be taken of Frank DeVol's music (the recurring theme is a classic). I recommend this one highly

Jack Lemmon stands at the top of his profession when it comes to comedy. No other actor has his sense of timing or expressive manners to offer competition to the master. "Good Neighbor Sam" is Lemmon at his best. Playing the average guy next door who gets into all kinds of problems through mostly no fault of his own. Everyone will enjoy this movie and the other Lemmon films similar to it. I rated this a 7.