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Sex and the Single Girl (1964)

THANK YOU FROM THE HEART       
FOR LIVING DOWN TO MY EXPECTATIONS.      
The Chief [to Bob Weston] in Sex and the Single Girl             
★★★
Directed by RICHARD QUINE
Starring NATALIE WOOD, TONY CURTIS, LAUREN BACALL and HENRY FONDA

 So Sex and the Single Girl is a crazy, over the top, arrhythmic sixties comedy -- it's allowed. There's no point in trashing it for what it is meant to be. Still, if this doesn't sound like your poison, you should stay clear. Unless you find such a cast too good to dismiss, which were my thoughts exactly -- then it is definitely worth a watch. Either way, be prepared for a lot of nonsense.

Bob Weston (Tony Curtis) is a sleazy reporter working for dirt magazine STOP, who has recently wrote a trash article on psychiatrist and author of love advice books for women, Dr. Helen Brown (Natalie Wood). The story was a success but he wanted to dig deeper, and so Bob impersonates his neighbour Frank (Henry Fonda), using his marital issues with wife Sylvia (Lauren Bacall) as a means to keep visiting the doctor. Quite naturally, Bob and Helen start falling in love with each other, and he begins to wonder whether or not he should run the story.

It's a cute and funny little story, with some great lines, nice laughs, and a chance to see four outstanding actors act like adorable fools. Everyone's great, but Natalie Wood is surprisingly good in this genre, not to mention dead gorgeous (in that sweet way only she can really pull off). Basically, one just has to be willing to accept all the weird faces and over the top acting, ridiculous encounters and nonsensical happenings. If you go along with it, Sex and the Single Girl can be a rather entertaining and endearing film.

And somehow, that is just fine. 


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