One Paragraph Movie Review: The Ladies Man

Three hundred and ninth film: The Ladies Man, a 1961 Jerry Lewis film that revolves entirely around two things: Jerry Lewis’s one-note comedy, and a massive set that looks like a cutaway doll’s house. I concede that of all the deeply irritating slapstick comedians who base every single character on shouting and being cross-eyed, Jerry Lewis is the best. I concede further that the set of this movie is amazing, and Jerry Lewis as a director is vastly more interesting than he is as an actor. And I insist that the premise of this movie — that a jilted college graduate swears off women and then gets a job as a houseboy in a women-only boarding house, in which the women pretend to need his help just so he stays and everyone discovers he’s actually helpful and probably something about the friends we made along the way — is stupid. An astounding set and two interesting scenes — one where the girls get ready for their day to syncopated jazz, another semi-dream sequence in which a vampirish resident in an all-white room slinks around to syncopated jazz — do not a good movie make. Hmmm. Two overused jokes about a ferocious dog out of five.