Writers: Neil Simon, Norman Lear
Composer: Nelson Riddle
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Lee J. Cobb, Molly Picon, Barbara Rush, Jill St. John, Dan Blocker, Phyllis McGuire, Tony Bill
More info: IMDb
Tagline: I tell ya, chum...laughs it is!
Plot: A New York playboy teaches his kid brother what he knows, to their parents' dismay.
My rating: 6.5/10
Will I watch it again? No.
Sinatra is great and he's believable as an excited brother but he looks soooooo much older than Tony Bill that it took me out of it. Still, Sinatra is fun to watch. Bill, on the other hand, is not. He's annoying. I'm sure that was the idea but his performance bugged me. This is based on Neil Simon's play and some of it feels like it, as in the performances sometimes feeling better suited for the stage. If you take a comedy scene from a play and put it in a film, it's often going to come across as over the top and too silly and obnoxious. That happens a lot in this picture. Sinatra's terrific as usual. Cobb & Picon play their parents and they're fun (although Cobb is only 4 years older than Sinatra so there's that). The story is good as is so many other bits but it's the over the top-ness and Bill's annoyance that kept me from enjoying it more. Take Sinatra out of the picture and the score drops a point or two. Dean Martin's cameo was a bright spot.
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