The April Fools (1969) - film review

The April Fools is an American comedy romance film first released in 1969, directed by Stuart Rosenberg.  The film stars Jack Lemmon, Catherine Deneuve, Peter Lawford, Jack Weston and Myrna Loy.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.

Write a synopsis for this film...

Great 1960s movie with Jack Lemmon, Catherine Deneuve, Peter Lawford and Jack Weston, with Sally Kellerman and Harvey Korman. Special Stars, Myrna Loy and Charles Boyer. Also, appearances by David Doyle and Melinda Dillon (Ralphie’s mother from A Christmas Story). Wonderful performance from Lemmon, and Catherine Deneuve is just ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL... and it does not matter that she cannot speak English well.  Peter Lawford is ... well Peter Lawford but Myrna Loy and Boyer have outstanding and funny roles as an older eccentric married couple.

The movie is really about nothing other than the fact that Lemmon is getting a promotion and is invited to a party at his boss’s (Lawford) lavish Manhatten apartment where he falls madly in love with his boss’s wife (Catherine Deneuve.)   He decides, after one night with this woman that he is going to Paris with her, leaving his wife (Sally Kellerman), son and new job just to be with her. And he indeed does that. But the entire movie, after the opening, is his time with Deneuve during that night while visiting with Loy and Boyer. He decides to go home to tell his wife he is leaving her and going to Paris, and there is a very Max Sennet style automobile ride to the airport where Lemmon confronts Lawford (Deneuve’s husband) before boarding the plane just in time to fly off with the most beautiful women in the world.  It is entirely fanciful.... . However, with a Burt Bacharach score... and shots of the beautiful Catherine Deneuve and Manhatten in the ’60s, it is worth the little more than an hour to watch this cute and entertaining film.

© Jim, West River, MD 2007

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?