Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

George Wright This movie features Walter Matthau in three separate roles but the real stars are the women he performs with: Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris and Lee Grant. In each case, we see them in the roles of wife, girlfriend and mother. Maureen Stapleton's role was sad and the other two--Harris and Grant-- are comical. I found the roles of these women were more interesting and the acting more convincing than Walter Matthau. I am a fan of Walter Matthau but in this film he gives a lacklustre performance with limited material in the first story and overblown performances in the other two. Matthau is usually a very funny guy with great lines and superb delivery but the humour just isn't there and the lines fall flat. All three stories deal with marriage and relationships at various stages of life. The common thread is that they take place in the same suite at New York City's Plaza Hotel, a Neil Simon touch.

caa821 Some of the other comments here are critical - but several others wax enthusiastically over this presentation as being funny, witty, incisive, with a real, meaningful message. I thought it to be the opposite - and ironically, considering its author, that all three segments were virtually equally mediocre.Babe Ruth went 0-for-4 sometimes, and there probably were shows where Sinatra was flat or Pavarotti's voice broke. Same for Simon here.Walter Matthau made an art of playing the brash, devious, often smarmy, unctuous character on the right side of the line between funny and annoying. All three of his characters here were far onto the wrong side.The movie producer, out to seduce an old high school flame, now settled and married (and way down in his "black book") was the epitome of smarmy/unctuous/phony).The unhappy, successful businessman/husband, was the epitome of the chauvinistic, self-absorbed middle-age baboon.And the father of the bride for the plush wedding party gone awry (even back then, an event like this would have been way up into five figures at The Plaza), was pretty much a one-dimensional loudmouth oaf.The two wives, and high school classmate were played by three excellent actresses, with each character weak, unimaginative and one-dimensional. The daughter/fiancé in the wedding were as uninteresting and unsympathetic as her parents and his future in-laws.Finally, without exception, every single one of these persons was annoying. This movie's tape is a time capsule example of the word "annoying."Mark it three stars only for the technicality that it should be noted each segment rates only 1*.

kyle_furr Not very funny or interesting. All three of the skits are pretty boring. I could hardly keep myself awake during the second one, I only watched the third one because i heard it was the best of the three, It was just as bad as the first two. Walter Matthau is a fine actor but not in here.

suze-4 I expected this 1971 film to be a bright comedy. Instead I was presented with the filming of a very deep three-part stage play about the dark side of human relationships; only the last of the three stories could really be called funny.A bride-to-be locks herself in the bathroom and her parents go through all kinds of hilarious slapstick agony trying to persuade her to come out. It is free of the darker undertones of the first two vignettes and has a cute surprise ending with a happy message. The other two, while being wry and witty in places, are really commentaries on the nature of man's unfaithfulness and exploitation of women, and women's culpability in allowing that state of affairs to develop and continue.Walter Matthau plays the lead in each of the three stories, which take place in the same suite, 719, of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. He has different leading ladies in each one: Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris and Lee Grant. There are a few incidental characters but the stories revolve around the two main characters in each story. The dialogue is quite true to real life, even appearing to be repetitive and meaningless in places as real life conversations can be, but the playwright is taking us in each case to a specific understanding of the characters. There is nothing extraneous even though at first it appears to be cluttered with incidentals.In the first story, a husband and wife check into the Plaza Hotel for their anniversary - and then things begin to fall apart. Maureen Stapleton as the seemingly scatterbrained wife is brilliant in playing both the tragic and comic aspects of this complicated role. As the story unfolds we realize things are not as they appear on the surface.In the second story, a sleazy Hollywood businessman calls up various names in his little black book so that he can have some woman - any woman - come to his suite for sex from 2 to 4 between meetings. The woman from his past whom he persuades to show up is both afraid of the possible seduction and hoping he will talk her into it. This is all too painful and familiar a scenario and anyone will relate to the awkward dance between two individuals who have to try to save face while getting their needs met.If you are looking for a light and fluffy comedy this is not the one to choose. It will disturb you and make you think about the tragic aspects of love, sex and marriage, long after it is over.