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They All Laughed
Peter Bogdanovich provides a real mixed bag with 1981's They All Laughed, a quirky and confusing private eye story that has earned a place in cinematic history as the final film appearance of murdered PLAYBOY centerfold Dorothy Stratten.
John (Ben Gazzara), Charles (John Ritter), and Arthur (Blaine Novak) are three private detectives who work at a 2nd rate agency in Manhattan called The Odyssey Detective Agency. They have two cases running concurrently as the story opens: John has been assigned to trail a sophisticated millionaire's wife (Audrey Hepburn) while Charles and Arthur are following Dolores (Stratten), the young bride of an extremely jealous husband (Sean Ferrer). These cases are complicated by the women in our detectives' lives including a sexy cabbie (Patti Hansen) and a neurotic country singer (Colleen Camp).
Bogdonavich and co-star Blaine Novak collaborated on the muddy screenplay which leisurely tries to tell the story of detectives who become a little too personally involved with their clients, but the pacing of the story is so lethargic that by the time the viewer has figured out exactly what's going on here, interest has definitely begun to wane. We see that two different stories are being told and we keep waiting for them to connect in a way they never do. We're in the second act before it's revealed that the three detectives work for the same agency and we're a little let down that this is the only connection between the two stories. I'm guessing the hook of this story was supposed to be the fact that these are three private detectives who are really not very good at what they do.
On the positive side, it is lovely to see Hepburn (looking incredible) and Gazzara sharing the screen, conjuring up all kinds of cinematic memories despite the fact that this is the first time they had worked together. John Ritter gets to display his affinity for physical comedy here and steals every scene he is in. I was also impressed with Bogdanovich's use of Manhattan as the backdrop for his story. Only Woody Allen has made comparable use of Manhattan as a movie setting.
Hepburn and Gazzara are lovely together but their screentime is limited. If the truth be told, the late John Ritter steals the show as the clumsy but adorable Charles and Stratten does show some promise as a movie star and Bogdonavich's love for the girl is clear here. It's a shame he was unable to protect her from her sad fate. The movie does have a spark of originality, but it just takes too long to go where it's going. Sean Ferrer is the real life son of Audrey Hepburn. A lot of talent wasted here.
Peter Bogdanovich provides a real mixed bag with 1981's They All Laughed, a quirky and confusing private eye story that has earned a place in cinematic history as the final film appearance of murdered PLAYBOY centerfold Dorothy Stratten.
John (Ben Gazzara), Charles (John Ritter), and Arthur (Blaine Novak) are three private detectives who work at a 2nd rate agency in Manhattan called The Odyssey Detective Agency. They have two cases running concurrently as the story opens: John has been assigned to trail a sophisticated millionaire's wife (Audrey Hepburn) while Charles and Arthur are following Dolores (Stratten), the young bride of an extremely jealous husband (Sean Ferrer). These cases are complicated by the women in our detectives' lives including a sexy cabbie (Patti Hansen) and a neurotic country singer (Colleen Camp).
Bogdonavich and co-star Blaine Novak collaborated on the muddy screenplay which leisurely tries to tell the story of detectives who become a little too personally involved with their clients, but the pacing of the story is so lethargic that by the time the viewer has figured out exactly what's going on here, interest has definitely begun to wane. We see that two different stories are being told and we keep waiting for them to connect in a way they never do. We're in the second act before it's revealed that the three detectives work for the same agency and we're a little let down that this is the only connection between the two stories. I'm guessing the hook of this story was supposed to be the fact that these are three private detectives who are really not very good at what they do.
On the positive side, it is lovely to see Hepburn (looking incredible) and Gazzara sharing the screen, conjuring up all kinds of cinematic memories despite the fact that this is the first time they had worked together. John Ritter gets to display his affinity for physical comedy here and steals every scene he is in. I was also impressed with Bogdanovich's use of Manhattan as the backdrop for his story. Only Woody Allen has made comparable use of Manhattan as a movie setting.
Hepburn and Gazzara are lovely together but their screentime is limited. If the truth be told, the late John Ritter steals the show as the clumsy but adorable Charles and Stratten does show some promise as a movie star and Bogdonavich's love for the girl is clear here. It's a shame he was unable to protect her from her sad fate. The movie does have a spark of originality, but it just takes too long to go where it's going. Sean Ferrer is the real life son of Audrey Hepburn. A lot of talent wasted here.