Word: wildering
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...OPENING SCENE of Gene Wilder's latest film, The World's Greatest Lover, is a masterpiece in parody. Wilder, with his eyes bulging from his head in a passionate glare, impersonates a Valentinoesque Spanish dancer clinging to a sultry female partner. The couple's exaggerated motions, sexy facial expressions, and intensely serious gestures are indeed funny. The scene shows Wilder in his best comic form, and in that brief moment, the movie almost lives up to the expectations created by its title. But the remainder of the film never fulfills its promise. This sequence is, for both Wilder...
...little genius and a lot of banality compose The World's Greatest Lover, and Wilder is responsible for both. As a writer, director and actor he exhibits a wide range of abilities and sensibilities. Unfortunately, his humor has a hit-or-miss quality to it, and he does not always amuse the viewers. Instead of marveling at how much Wilder can do, one leaves the movie speculating how good it might have been had Wilder not tried so hard...
...PLOT CONCENTRATES on the problems of a Milwaukee baker (played by Wilder) who must compete with the screen idol Rudolph Valentino for the admiration of his young wife Annie (Carol Kane). To prove himself to her and also to escape the confinement of his job, Wilder changes his name to Rudy Valentine and moves to Hollywood to compete for the "World's Greatest Lover" role in a studio ad campaign. The couple's proximity to the real Valentino is too much for Annie, who leaves her husband to track down her dream lover at Paramount Studios...
Taking a longer view, Reynolds adds, "I'm trying very subtly and subliminally to ease myself away from Billy Clyde Puckett and toward Gary Grant. I may be the most unsophisticated Gary Grant in 20 years, but I'm going to get there." Beyond that lies a still wilder dream. "I want to lead a quiet, pseudointellectual life and go out and direct a picture two times a year. You can only hold your stomach in for so many years...
...director, Wilder fares somewhat better. The film looks handsome, and its few reflective scenes express an idiosyncratic affection for the mythos of American movies. The shots of Hollywood sound stages and Beverly Hills vistas have a Fellini-esque quality, as does a dreamy sequence in which the film's two Rudys spend an unlikely afternoon together. Better yet, The World's Greatest Lover ends with a rush of feeling for both movies and people that is surprisingly touching. While the climax has nothing to do with the film that precedes it, one can at least hope that...