This goes in the "so deliciously bad and so joyously campy that you've got to see it!" category, ending the 1970's on a more dignified note for Mae West after the catastrophe of "Myra Breckenridge" (even though she comes off rather unscathed in her cameo in that film), and at 85, she's a delightful hoot. Mae is ultra popular movie star Marlo Manners who apparently is so popular that people line up to see her all over London coming out of the church after she marries wealthy nobleman Timothy Dalton, just like they wood for Prince Charles and Diana just a few years later. The much married Marlo simply just wants to have a quiet honeymoon with Dalton (and who could blame her?) but she's constantly interrupted by assistant Dom DeLuise, hotel staff fawning over her, rumors of her husband's sexuality (caused by a misunderstanding on Rona Barrett talk show) and a plethora of ex-husbands and former lovers.
Certainly looking a lot younger than her 85 years, Mae West still looks like a female impersonator and obviously enjoys that image, and when she responds to "stop!" to Dalton's assurance in song that "Love Will Keep us Together", it's nearly as campy as Bette Davis in Baby Jane makeup. The ultra flamboyant gay mentality is felt instantly with the mod "Marla" sung over the opening credits, a hideously choreographed version of "Hooray For Hollywood" and with her repeat of classic West lines, declaring "I'm the girl who works at Paramount all day and Fox all night."
There really isn't a story, just a series of slapstick situations that are either knee slapping funny or eye rolling and an opportunity for Mae to wear a series of striking gowns with she looks fantastic in. Cameos from veteran Hollywood stars like Tony Curtis and Walter Pidgeon have no real purpose, although the presence of George Raft (playing himself) in the film ties her career together as this being her last film, he was the star of her first film, "Night after Night". Basically, this is nothing more and then a series of situations to come between West End Dalton consummating their marriage.
The temptation to laugh at Dalton singing is there too as it was for fellow James Bond, Timothy Dalton, in "Mamma Mia". DeLuise deserved a razzie for his musical number, a moment that nearly rivals "At Long Last Love" for the most horrendous songs and dances on screen. The script fails when it tries to utilize the difference in American English and British English as the subject of jokes. I can't watch this without wondering how the audiences in San Francisco, New York and West Hollywood viewed this upon its initial release, staring at the screen like the audience hearing "Springtime for Hitler" in "The Producers". The mood of the film is so sweet and loving toward its star that it's difficult to completely dismiss, and at least with this being her exit from show business, she went out under her own rules.
Certainly looking a lot younger than her 85 years, Mae West still looks like a female impersonator and obviously enjoys that image, and when she responds to "stop!" to Dalton's assurance in song that "Love Will Keep us Together", it's nearly as campy as Bette Davis in Baby Jane makeup. The ultra flamboyant gay mentality is felt instantly with the mod "Marla" sung over the opening credits, a hideously choreographed version of "Hooray For Hollywood" and with her repeat of classic West lines, declaring "I'm the girl who works at Paramount all day and Fox all night."
There really isn't a story, just a series of slapstick situations that are either knee slapping funny or eye rolling and an opportunity for Mae to wear a series of striking gowns with she looks fantastic in. Cameos from veteran Hollywood stars like Tony Curtis and Walter Pidgeon have no real purpose, although the presence of George Raft (playing himself) in the film ties her career together as this being her last film, he was the star of her first film, "Night after Night". Basically, this is nothing more and then a series of situations to come between West End Dalton consummating their marriage.
The temptation to laugh at Dalton singing is there too as it was for fellow James Bond, Timothy Dalton, in "Mamma Mia". DeLuise deserved a razzie for his musical number, a moment that nearly rivals "At Long Last Love" for the most horrendous songs and dances on screen. The script fails when it tries to utilize the difference in American English and British English as the subject of jokes. I can't watch this without wondering how the audiences in San Francisco, New York and West Hollywood viewed this upon its initial release, staring at the screen like the audience hearing "Springtime for Hitler" in "The Producers". The mood of the film is so sweet and loving toward its star that it's difficult to completely dismiss, and at least with this being her exit from show business, she went out under her own rules.