Barefoot in the Park (1967) - film review

Paul and Corie Bratter are a pair of young newlyweds who can hardly wait to set up home together.  Unfortunately, the home that Corie has chosen, a tiny fifth floor apartment in Greenwich Village, isn’t quite what Paul, a straitlaced trainee attorney, had in mind.  Still, despite the lack of heating, the gaping hole in the skylight, the bedroom that is too small for a bed, the noticeable absence of a bath, the abundance of weirdo neighbours and the flight of stairs that looks like it was intended to train mountaineers, Paul and Corrie are soon settled into their new home.  At this point, Corrie decides to try a little matchmaking and sets about playing Cupid for her mother and a neighbour who has a reputation as a Bluebeard...

Neil Simon’s screen adaptation of his popular Broadway play Barefoot in the Park offers plenty of laughs but is somewhat shallow in its portrayal of married life.  Despite its evident feel-good quality, the film is slightly marred by the distinct lack of chemistry between its two leads, Jane Fonda and Robert Redford.  Like the play before it, the film was a massive hit when it was first released in 1967, grossing twenty million dollars, ten times what it cost to make.  For his directorial debut, Gene Saks could hardly have wished for more, although he surpassed himself in his next film, The Odd Couple (1968).

The jokes may be a little dated (having been replicated in virtually every domestic sitcom under the sun) but they still manage to raise a smile, particularly as Fonda and Redford play their parts with the kind of gusto you only expect to find at an end of year party.  As enjoyable as the leads are, the film is pretty well stolen by the superb Charles Boyer and Mildred Natwick, who not only deliver a fair quota of laughs but manage to make their characters stand out as being more than just comedy caricatures.  Barefoot in the Park is a good film to lift your spirits when you feel down in the mouth, but don’t expect it to offer any profound insights on how to save your marriage.

© Derek Adamson 2010

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