Richard Sherman's wife and son go away for the summer, as every wife and child does that time of year, and Sherman is left alone in his apartment with the rules: no smoking and no drinking. What's a guy to do then? Most men in the neighborhood run off and find a mistress, as is the case with Sherman's janitor who sees Marilyn (an unnamed woman who lives upstairs and whom Sherman befriends) and assumes Sherman is doing the same. After Marilyn nearly kills Sherman with a potted plant, Sherman invites her down for a drink. Sherman instantly break both rules set by his wife and instantly starts fantasizing about Marilyn. Paranoia takes hold of him as he believes Marilyn will tell everyone he has in some way forced himself upon her. Eventually the two become friends, and nothing more. This creates a great deal of dramatic irony as everyone else outside the situation would believe the two to be having an affair since soon Marilyn is living with Sherman and walking around the apartment barely clothed.
One of the strongest features of this movie is the use of fantasies. Our main protagonist constantly runs possible scenarios in his head, which we all do, yet his are comical and wildly outlandish. Before meeting Marilyn, Sherman has a long conversation with his wife, who isn't there, about how he could have an affair if he truly wanted and precedes to flashback to multiple advances by various women, which never actually happened. Not long after, Sherman is in his apartment fantasizing about Marilyn and himself playing piano as elegantly as humanly possible. Rather than let these fantasy sequences just play out, Wilder inserts the ridiculous expressions of Sherman as he watches himself and Marilyn. In fact, he does this for most of the fantasy sequences. Another sequence shows Marilyn using her commercial time to alert other women of Sherman's ways which we see Sherman's wife on vacation watching. This fantasy leads Sherman to trying and avoid Marilyn, which doesn't work for long. I love the use of these sequences in the movie and it is possible what make it so memorable.
The acting was also phenomenal, the characters play what you would assume they are like in real life. For instance Marilyn is a ditsy model and actress, I am not at all trying to belittle her it just seems that is her default in many roles. Tom Ewell plays the "everyday man," struggling with real life dilemmas and handling them how any of us would, by making ourselves out to be alpha in our heads. His character grows substantially throughout the course of the movie. While originally we feel of him as an imaginative weakling, he eventually stands up to a man he believes is sleeping with his wife, another fantasy, and takes off work to go see his family, even tough earlier in the film is is established that he can't do this due to "high time" at his job. This movie is so down to Earth while still being so very imaginative that it is both relatable and outlandish, as contradictory as it sounds.
Now a couple side notes: For some reason I found myself reading people's critiques of this movie on Netflix, where everyone is an expert (don't start explaining the irony of that sentence to me). Anyway, one phrase that was constantly in the critiques was "outdated." Excuse me for a moment while I bang my head against a wall.
This is asinine. Of course women and children aren't sent away for the summer leaving their husbands to do whatever they want, though I'm sure there is a couple that does this somewhere, but the theme of infidelity and trying to overcome all urges is still relevant today (I would love someone to challenge me on this so I could challenge their face with my fist). And yeah maybe the girl next door (above you) is a myth, sorry prepubescent boys, but it is possible even if the girl is yards away. Next time you want to claim a movie is outdated make sure you watch it first and grasp what it is actually about. No movie is current forever, that's why it's called current, but while the styles and culture may change, some hell most values are stagnant. This is a fine example of a value system we still employee.
Sorry for the rant but reading this I tried to grasp what the writers were talking about and as a fine movie reviewer myself (shut up) it bugged me. Also, if you don't like this type of movie it isn't that the movie is bad it's that you have shitty taste in cinema and that your idea of a good movie is probably Twilight. But in all seriousness, this type of movie isn't for everyone, and that is fine (we aren't friends but it's fine). If you don't like this type of movie normally you shouldn't review is (yeah, I reviewed a horror movie but I know a good horror movie from a bad one, at least I've seen enough to compare). That's it for my tangent thank you for reading if you've made it this far. If you like older films and are a fan of witty, romantic, and classically funny movies watch The Seven Year Itch. If you don't then you have no business here.
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