The Woman in Red (1984)

[StevePulaski]

The Woman in Red (1984)
Directed by: Gene Wilder

The alluring "woman in red" in her eponymous movie.

Rating: ★★½

Gene Wilder's career as a likable, if squirrely and slightly unkempt, soul who tries to do everything as good as he can but too often lands himself in to hot water is one that has spawned memorable performances. Most of his great works came as a result of working with frequent collaborator Richard Pryor, with whom the two made the uproariously funny Silver Streak and See No Evil, Hear No Evil to name a few, but when he stepped behind a camera, you knew it was going to be something of an event. Whether he'd direct the quirky musical-comedy The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother or the eccentric comedy The World's Greatest Lover, Wilder never seemed to want to step behind the camera if the script wasn't something special or the concept wasn't unique enough to merit his full command.

The outlier of that formula is his 1984 directorial effort The Woman in Red, based on the French comedy Pardon Mon Affaire (or An Elephant Can Be Extremely Deceptive) directed by Yves Robert, who returns to co-write the screenplay with Jean-Loup Dabadie and Wilder himself. The film remains mostly loyal to the 1976 film, revolving around Teddy Pierce (Wilder), a San Francisco-based advertising executive who quickly becomes smitten with a gorgeous woman in a red dress that works in his office. He first sees the woman in her silky get-up stand over in-ground ventilation, causing her dress to blow upwards and arouse Teddy. Teddy has been married to Didi (Judith Ivey) for several years, never considering going out with or even looking at another woman during that time, but his newfound infatuation with this alluring woman in the red dress leaves him frightened and vulnerable.

His friends (Charles Grodin, Joseph Bologna) are no help in the sense of promoting loyalty and fidelity. They egg the impressionable Teddy on to make a pass at the woman, leading him to mistakenly phone Ms Milner (Wilder's then-wife Gilda Radner), a plain coworker who is thrilled at the chance of finally having a meaningful date. The woman in red eventually turns out to be a model named Charlotte (Kelly Le Brock), who is into horseback riding in addition to being the elusive apple of his eye. The two make some time for one another as Charlotte relishes in being control not only of the way the relationship unfolds, but of Teddy, who ebbs and flows with whatever his friends or she herself tells him.

The Woman in Red works well when it shows Teddy and Charlotte bonding, which is primarily marked by Teddy's goofy, lovestruck expression that screams "I can't believe I'm doing this, seriously, what if my wife finds out?" It's a film that exists for the pleasure we, the audience, get watching a man's formerly simple, linear life become increasingly more complicated by way of one stupid decision after another. That pleasure runs out after a while when we see the film embellish a premise that's mainly fixated on one joke that disproportionately rests on Teddy's shoulders.

Perhaps it would've been fun to get a closer look at Didi's life and what her personal ventures entailed instead of spending time with Teddy's idiot friends that instigate such adolescent behavior. The film's comedy is some that also drys up after a while, committing unevenly to both a slapstick-driven narrative that intermittently capitalizes on sitcom-style situational humor. In the case of Teddy and Charlotte's first official conversation on a rainy day, the latter works well. In the case of Teddy desperately trying to carry out an affair and hide it from his wife, who conveniently admits she's the violently jealous type the night both him and Charlotte plan on meeting up, the act becomes contrived after a while.

I saw The Woman in Red on one of those cheaply packaged two-for-the-price-of-one DVD packs along with Blame it on Rio (which also starred Bologna in a supporting role that saw him get angry at the drop of a pin). Both comedies are the crasser, cruder kind that appeal to aging males who have contemplated having an affair with the cute secretary at the office, or maybe even looked at a woman half their age with the kind of affection Michael Caine does in Blame it on Rio. The score can be settled by recommending not only this film, but both movies like this - you know who you are when it comes to whether or not they appeal to you.

Starring: Gene Wilder, Kelly Le Brock, Gilda Radner, Charles Grodin, and Joseph Bologna. Directed by: Gene Wilder.