Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It is difficult to review "movies of childhood" - on the one hand, in the memory preserved delight from seeing it two decades ago; on the other hand, you know that you have changed and what was once so loved, now may be disappointing. Moreover, if you've read devastating criticism on IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes and paid attention to the movie's low rating and its failure at the box office, you'll seriously doubt the wisdom of messing up your vivid impressions of childhood.But here you have some free time, and while not expecting anything special, except for the romantic comedy with still young Baldwin and Basinger, you launch The Marrying Man.Then unexpectedly in addition to the fun romantic story, you find clever humour and excellent Neil Simon's dialogues, psychologically credible analysis of relationships' problems, beautiful songs from the 1950s performed by Kim and perfectly conveyed elegance of the "golden age."Although "The Marrying Man" in its own is a fairy-tale (probably because of this you've fell in love with this movie as a child), it is absolutely not for children. The movie's fabulousness, imperceptibly "catchy" to many is apparently equally repulsive to others. This fabulousness manifested not only in the glamorous beauty of Baldwin-Basinger pair, but also in the inescapable optimistic narrative, desire and ability of the main protagonists to forgive and to give each other more and more chances despite appearing would be hopelessly damaged relationships. Of course, in real life it seems unreal. And if it happens, it is extremely rare. But many would like to believe in a fabulous chance to correct the irreparable: to return passion, which was extinguished in the routine of life, to restore marriage, ruined by husband's workaholism and negligence, to start over and fall into another flaw when husband loses his self-esteem, when recriminations and resentment for lost opportunities seem insurmountable, still to forgive and to try again from the scratch, taking into account all the experienced mistakes - with mutual respect, love and support. And characters are giving these forgiveness and new opportunities to each other - a fairy tale, in which you secretly want to believe.In this fairy tale with beautiful people, great music, stylish atmosphere, clever dialogues, good humour and adult problems, protagonists, despite all of life's disasters and deep resentment, still eager to find mutual support and love, friends remain loyal, and the story's ending, as a reward for all experienced, is optimistic. The Marrying Man is a good movie for those who have not forgotten how to believe in the beautiful fairy tales.10 out of 10

Jerry Rees's 'The Marrying Man' is one of those funny and spot-on flicks that have the potential to become classics, but they falter in the most important portion of the film... it's culmination.'The Marrying Man' stars Alec Baldwin as a playboy, who is a 6 days away from his marriage... in a trip with friends, he falls in love with the sultry Kim Basinger, who also has her share of problems and complications. The film has a terrific first hour, in fact you're hooked into the screen completely! But the penultimate 40-minutes drag and become boring. The culmination is stupid and highly unconvincing. What disappoints more is that this flick is written by a genius like Neil Simon! Moving on, Rees direction is fair. Acting wise, Robert Loggia is terrific in a brief role. He steals the show! Alec Baldwin is quite good. Kim Basinger looks amazing, as ever! Her performance is perfect. Elisabeth Shue is okay. All the actors who play Alec's friends are mechanical.'The Marrying Man' deserves a watch. It has a superb first hour and the lovable Kim Basinger to it's kitty.

There is love and there is hot, Charlie and Vicki had both, why is this so amazing? A myriad of reasons, so let's attempt to make the necessary detachment! Love is trust, mutual understanding, mutual respect and spiritual growth. Sex is fantasy, illusion, degrading escapism and some other kind of growth (guess what?). The film "Marrying Man" delves into the painstaking dichotomy of what a marriage should be, and what men really want out of it. The creative itemization to this movie is marvelous! All of the circumstances in this movie make love and hot the overt culprits to virtually all of Charlie's (Alek Baldwin) problems. The genre of this film evokes a tremendous wealth of humor which is based on the fact that a nefariously candid handful of guys are afflicted by their relentlessly sordid human nature! The entire movie appealed to me: Taking place in the fifties, the events of this era accommodated an auspicious camaraderie with the cavalier demeanor of this film! This movie was full of mildly lewd behavior which reflected the naivety of the times! Another stellar aspect to this flick was, of course, the given factual detail that Kim Bassinger looked utterly gorgeous!!. Neil Simon directs this movie, and, it surprises me how Mr Egalitarian Liberal of the Seventies, (Neil Simon) can be so flippant about this film's insinuated sexist wiles of chicanery, kidding or otherwise!! The music accommodated the pace of this film, and the acting was incredibly believable. People might say, "You are suppose to take a driver's license test four times if you have to, you are not suppose to marry the same woman four times". To which I say, "Marrying the same woman four times, "Can Do!!"

This movie is all about the allure of anticipation, especially between two lovers. It's about that feeling you get when you fall "in love" with that special someone and can't get that person out of your mind. But it's also about how that feeling can all too often leave you before you know what has happened. In this respect, I think the movie does a good job depicting this phenomenon. Baldwin and Basinger express a real yearning for each other that can really be felt throughout the movie.The only really bad part about this film is that the story is somewhat chopped up and the "narration"-style presentation could use some work. Other than that, it's good to watch if you catch it on TV or something.