This movie was a big disappointment. The writing was weak, and the script was neither funny nor touching. The acting of the leads was off, too. The relationship between Burnett and Matthau comes off as superficial; Matthau's character, in particular, displays no emotional depth, and his jokiness is annoying after the first few minutes. The two actors had no chemistry, and their onscreen pairing lacked warmth and sexiness. I'm a huge fan of Carol Burnett--and she tried hard here--but her character was weak. For most of the movie, she puts up with Matthau's philandering without confronting him, her anger buried under an overly prim exterior. Isn't this unrealistic? Burnett's character also comes off as selfish and mean; towards the end, she tries to embarrass her friend (played by the gifted actress Geraldine Page) when she attempts to force her to blurt out her age in public. There was no good reason for Burnett's character to do this to Page's character, and if she had been a REAL friend to her, she would have respected the other woman's decision to keep her real age a secret. I can't understand why other commenters found the "cat fight" between them funny; I found it violent, sexist ("proving" once again, that women can't be real friends to each other), and mean-spirited. I actually felt sorry for Page's character--who didn't do anything wrong; she insulted Burnett only after Burnett had tried to embarrass her--not Burnett's. And I really wanted to root for Carol Burnett! Martin Ritt also deserves some of the blame: he made lots of terrific dramas like "Norma Rae," but he was useless at directing drama-comedies like this one. Too bad this movie wasn't made by a master of the drama-comedy genre such as Billy Wilder ("The Apartnment") or Blake Edwards ("Breakfast at Tiffany's"). Both "The Apartment" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" have much better writing and acting, and both of them display the perfect balance between drama and comedy.
Review of Pete 'n' Tillie
