There's no doubt Burt Reynolds loved women and that women loved him, both of which were understandable facts. That doesn't mean, however, that Blake Edwards is relieved from the task of explaining and justifying why every single woman in the vicinity of the title character in The Man Who Loved Women actually loved him. This obscure little 1983 remake of the 1977 French film L'Homme qui aimait les femmes opens with a pillow-covering funeral scene, which sets a self-righteous tone from which the film never really escapes, despite Reynolds' usual vivacious presence and some really funny scenes to boot. The film reaches its zenith early on: There is a scene in which Burt tries to hit on a young woman in a car, and the scene has immediacy, vigour and is catching the time-spirit of the early 1980s. But soon afterwards, Edwards lets his movie spiral into contrived scenes of semi-relevant psychological observations at best. Julie Andrews' character is particularly ludicrous. There's not much to see here unless you're a Burt Reynolds fan.
Review of The Man Who Loved Women
