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"That exceeds the custom" (Molière), "and that's big o' me, too" (Groucho). The eponymous women are the lawyer headed for the Supreme Court (Ann Reinking) and the replacement cellist in the Cambodian String Quartet (Amy Irving), the man in the middle is a TV reporter for "America, Hey!" (Dudley Moore). ("Lingerie for Animals" and "Are Plants Seducible?" are some of the hard-hitting topics covered.) He marries one without divorcing the other, a baby is all that's missing in his life, both are pregnant. "I can't tell. Are you happy or suicidal?" Happy, but also busy as he ricochets from wife to wife in a blur of deception and tenderness. A farcical arrangement, a naturalistic treatment—Demy's A Slightly Pregnant Man may be a model for Blake Edwards' view of the guilt and hopefulness in the screwball paternal dream, Michel Legrand and all. The workaholic weeps over Anna Karenina and frets about her unborn's future ("What if she grows up to be the world's first successful female assassin?"), meanwhile hubby excuses himself for a little walk and dashes over to the altar where the musician awaits in bridal white. The confidante (Richard Mulligan) watches from the sidelines with raised eyebrows and wry malapropisms. "You're about to get a plate of sautéed brains thrown into your face, your entire career is in the toilet, and you're correcting my grammar?" The double life is anchored by some of Edwards' most empathetic slapstick, from the protagonists' intimate rhythms captured in long takes to fringe benefits like bare and armed Mishima cultists and H.B. Haggerty's body-slamming affability as a Jesuit turned wrestler turned decorator. The end mirrors the start, menopausal Pan surrounded by his brood. "There is a God... and He's a sexist pig." With George Gaynes, Wallace Shawn, John Pleshette, Lu Leonard, Priscilla Pointer, and Gustav Vintas.
--- Fernando F. Croce |