Such a frustrating disappointment

Purely Joyful Movie!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

2:34:29 An excessive time length, few characters, too much and empty dialogue to tell few things and with little grace. The songs of George & Ira Gershwin along with the performance of Ray Walston are the best of the film. Incatalogable as musical or pure comedy. Kim Novak shows up too much in everything but interpretation. Maybe this review is like the waiter at the beginning. Everyone laughs but him.

Difficult for me NOT to give this movie an IMDb score of 10. Absolutely charming from beginning to end. I'm well aware of Billy Wilder, his reputation as a GREAT director who made great films. STILL, I not only had never seen this, I was totally unaware of it.It is great: incredibly funny, well written, touchingly directed (the long shots of Mrs. Spooner's dress model, the closing of doors and opening of windows...on and on, just brilliant. Peter Sellers and Marilyn Monroe for the leads? Maybe, but why? In fact, no, no, no. Walston and Novack are perfect in their imperfection, playing regular people in a Hollywood invades reality comedy of (ill)manners. Dean Martin is perfectly, ideally cast in a role written for the role Hollywood wrote for him- playing a role within a role and ONLY Billy Wilder could write and direct a role for real people's roles. What genius.Just relax and enjoy this early 60's romp, from trailer to bedroom to Sam the parrot, "bang, bang!"No loose ends. A great finish. Don't miss a second. Why I don't give this a 10, I don't know. Maybe because they didn't let Ray Walston sing. Maybe there are better movies...Citizen Kane, Casablanca....but this'll do for great comedy. A perfect representative of its time, even better today. Daring; just plain great.

I can well imagine in its day this was regarded as risqué or even vulgar but looking now as i've just rediscovered Billy Wilder it stands the test of time and is probably in the Billy W top 3. Dean Martin sends himself up something stupid...Baby...and Kim Novak is such a good actress I can't imagine anybody else being good enough or brave enough to pull it off. Crammed full of innuendo and beautifully filmed in b&w where colour was available is a stroke of genius as it takes away the rear scenery and makes the characters stand out. The guy who plays the Petrol attendant steals every scene he is in and the whole cast seem to have so much fun. This movie is a dream from credit to credit.All the way through the movie I sensed a backdrop of small town madness and the score is haunting at times. This could have been a Hitchcock comedy. Best line for me.."If you want action Buddy,go to the Bellybutton" cracks me up every time.In fact I'm gonna watch it again.

Kiss Me Stupid was condemned, that is right, condemned when it was released ( now it gets a PG rating) and thus this fine film was released via a small subsidiary of United Artists called Lopert Pictures and forgotten on its initial release. Seen today Kiss Me Stupid is a daring and brilliant film.One should read both 'Kim Novak On Camera' and also 'Conversations With Wilder' concerning this movie. Kim Novak at the time was a huge international box office star and had a rough time with Henry Hathaway on "Of Human Bondage". MGM had to decide who to side with and MGM went with Novak and Mr. Hathaway was either fired or quit from 'Of Human Bondage'. Wilder offered the female lead in 'Kiss Me Stupid' to Novak but read Kim Novak the riot act saying if anyone left this film due to temperament it would be Kim Novak not Billy Wilder. What resulted was a mutual love fest and Wilder declaring in Crowe's book that Novak along with Audrey Hepburn were his two favorite actresses. (Ginger Roger, Jean Arthur, Shirley MacLaine, Paula Prentiss etc take note!) In the coffee table book 'Kim Novak on Camera' Wilder noted Novak's ability saying Kim was "Gorgeous to the Camera and read her lines like music." One wishes Kim Novak and Mr. Wilder would have worked together again for example Wilder was unhappy with Marthe Keller on 'Fedora', a part perfect for Ms. Novak.Kim Novak on Larry King Live said the picture would have worked better with Peter Sellars who left due to health, and the film had to re-shoot the Sellars footage. Wilder had to get a replacement quickly so after Danny Kaye, Bob Hope, turned the film down Wilder went with Ray Walston. Jack Lemmon a Wilder favorite was working elsewhere. Walston simply did not have the star charisma to work with real movie stars Dean Martin and Kim Novak.This film is a good film that should have been a great film. Wilder did a good job and Novak gives a great performance.