Dick Lester really owes his career to the Beatles. I can't think of a single thing he's done without them that has any lasting entertainment value; The Knack is another enterprise in that vein. Lester, a one-time director of TV commercials, uses about the same technique in his features, a lot of trick camera work, blitzkrieg editing, curt, rapid-fire "dialogue" which is just a lot of clipped phrases passed off as conversation. The net effect is the same in both cases, Lester is trying to sell us the images- the plot, characters, etc. are all subservient to the next image or phrase Lester wants to run up the flagpole, ultimately each shot, each composition, each gesture, each catchphrase, has a sly life unto itself, and, when slapped together, really doesn't add up to much.
The alleged plot of this sorry thing is an awkward schoolteacher/landlord (Michael Crawford) trying to learn how to score with women from his worldly tenant (Ray Brooks). This plot never gets off the ground in any way, it just degenerates into a lot of funky, dyspeptic action and unfunny (and often unintelligible) dialogue. There is not one bit of business in the movie that could be construed as funny, nor a single line of dialogue. And it didn't surprise me to note that the screenplay was written by Charles Wood, who was responsible for the pathetic screenplay for The Beatles "Help!" Wood seems eternally to be marketing his work for The Beatles. It's certainly no accident that Rita Tushingham is cast in the picture as a dead ringer for Ringo Starr. When one sees Crawford, Brooks, Tushingham, and Donal Donnelly in the same shot, we are watching a Beatles' sketch, and it doesn't say much for the material when one suspects that it would play far better for them than it does for these professionally trained actors. The performances are negligible at best, hysteria-ridden and squeamish at worst.
People who compare this movie with "A Hard Day's Night" simply don't have a clue. HDN was intelligently written, with great characterization, and some memorable lines. Lester's so-called style was incidental to the proceedings. There is no joy in The Knack. No mirth, no verve. It is all technique. Dick Lester wants to bombard us with technique, miles and miles of it, until we are knocked flat by his sheer brilliance and wizardry. Unfortunately, clever technique does not a motion picture make. This movie plays like a ketchup commercial that won't end. It's not even silliness, it's an advertisement for silliness. That's how far removed Lester is to giving the audience anything resembling content. Complete and worthless garbage. 1/2 * out of 4
The alleged plot of this sorry thing is an awkward schoolteacher/landlord (Michael Crawford) trying to learn how to score with women from his worldly tenant (Ray Brooks). This plot never gets off the ground in any way, it just degenerates into a lot of funky, dyspeptic action and unfunny (and often unintelligible) dialogue. There is not one bit of business in the movie that could be construed as funny, nor a single line of dialogue. And it didn't surprise me to note that the screenplay was written by Charles Wood, who was responsible for the pathetic screenplay for The Beatles "Help!" Wood seems eternally to be marketing his work for The Beatles. It's certainly no accident that Rita Tushingham is cast in the picture as a dead ringer for Ringo Starr. When one sees Crawford, Brooks, Tushingham, and Donal Donnelly in the same shot, we are watching a Beatles' sketch, and it doesn't say much for the material when one suspects that it would play far better for them than it does for these professionally trained actors. The performances are negligible at best, hysteria-ridden and squeamish at worst.
People who compare this movie with "A Hard Day's Night" simply don't have a clue. HDN was intelligently written, with great characterization, and some memorable lines. Lester's so-called style was incidental to the proceedings. There is no joy in The Knack. No mirth, no verve. It is all technique. Dick Lester wants to bombard us with technique, miles and miles of it, until we are knocked flat by his sheer brilliance and wizardry. Unfortunately, clever technique does not a motion picture make. This movie plays like a ketchup commercial that won't end. It's not even silliness, it's an advertisement for silliness. That's how far removed Lester is to giving the audience anything resembling content. Complete and worthless garbage. 1/2 * out of 4