That’s some name.
Lorimar! That brings back memories! Or… er… not actual memories of anything, but…
Oh, Peter Sellers?
Anyway, this is another Hal Ashby movie. These Ashby movies are films I read about back when I was a teenager — mostly in old copies of Mad Magazine — but I never saw any of them. I quite liked Harold & Maude, but I didn’t much take to Shampoo.
Perhaps this is gonna be more Maudish?
I feel seen!
Oh deer — this is my absolutely least favourite movie genre: “The naif faces the world”. These things are always Oscar bait…
Hah! I amaze myself!
But I guess Shirley MacLaine is gonna take care of him and learn a valuable lesson?
There she is. That was a lot faster than I expected.
Not only is this the dreaded “naif in society” genre — but it’s also a BITING SATIRE!!! There’s nothing I hate more than a BITING SATIRE.
(Satire is code for “not actually funny”.)
So is Chance going to end up being elected president or something? I betcha that’s biting.
It’s nice set design.
But, OK, for a biting satire it’s kinda funny.
The bit is that Sellers says random things about gardening, and then these people interpret that as profound things about life in general.
Yes, it’s also a biting satire about TV.
Scathing commentary!
A brutal look! That gently lifts! And smashes! To the jugular!
A gentle smashing to the jugular.
Watching this, I’m similarly confused — I’m basically bored in general, but I’m amused by a lot of the scenes. There’s a lot of really solid performances, but the general thing is *rolls eyes*.
Indeed.
I mean, the movie looks good and stuff — it’s well made — but it’s just not my thing. Like… if you were to design a movie to appeal to me less, you could probably do it — but this would be a good attempt. So it’s just me! This movie is probably brilliant and stuff.
Being There. Hal Ashby. 1979. ⚂
