Owen Waterbury (Kirk Douglas) is a bestselling novelist and lecturer. Ronnie Hastings is his best friend, enabler, and roomate. Aspiring writer Stephanie 'Steve' Gaylord (Laraine Day) attends his lecture. He hires her as his secretary. Her rose-colored glasses are soon lifted as she becomes disillusioned by his womanizing, chaos, and partying ways.
My print is not the sharpest. Despite the low-res quality, I still wanted to see this for Kirk Douglas. He's not the most well-known for light rom-com. It's not the best use of his skills. This movie has Steve spending more time with Ronnie than with Owen during the first act. Owen is more aloof and inattentive than anything else. It's his world and she's trying to live in it. I wonder if Ronnie needs a much smaller role. That may force Owen to deal with Steve more closely early on. As this movie stands, I'd rather have her end up with the temperamentally-similar Ronnie. The middle has a generally fun tone and I guess that's enough. The bad turn tries to generate conflict. The main problem is that I never bought into the relationship. So it's hard to buy into the breakup. The tone change from comedy to seriousness doesn't really work either. It's interesting to see Kirk Douglas try but I don't think he succeeded.
My print is not the sharpest. Despite the low-res quality, I still wanted to see this for Kirk Douglas. He's not the most well-known for light rom-com. It's not the best use of his skills. This movie has Steve spending more time with Ronnie than with Owen during the first act. Owen is more aloof and inattentive than anything else. It's his world and she's trying to live in it. I wonder if Ronnie needs a much smaller role. That may force Owen to deal with Steve more closely early on. As this movie stands, I'd rather have her end up with the temperamentally-similar Ronnie. The middle has a generally fun tone and I guess that's enough. The bad turn tries to generate conflict. The main problem is that I never bought into the relationship. So it's hard to buy into the breakup. The tone change from comedy to seriousness doesn't really work either. It's interesting to see Kirk Douglas try but I don't think he succeeded.