Themes: Infidelity, Nothing Goes Right, Foibles of Marriage
Main Cast: Dudley Moore, Amy Irving, Richard Mulligan, Ann Reinking, George Gaynes, Wallace Shawn
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 118 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Micki (Ann Reinking) is the wife of Rob (Dudley Moore), an airheaded TV talk show host. Maude (Amy Irving) is an attractive musician who is unaware of Micki's existence, and with whom Rob falls in love. Rob is a guy who can't say no, thus when Maude announces that she's pregnant, Rob obligingly marries her. Trouble is, he's still married to Micki who is also pregnant. To make matters worse, Rob's wives are due to give birth on the same day, forcing the double dealer to work doubly hard to keep both demanding women happy. Matters reach their comical climax when the Big Day arrives and Rob is expected to attend both births at the same time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Blake Edwards, for a time one of the masters of film farce, serves one of his lightest soufflés in this enjoyable comedy of mistaken intentions. Unity of tone is everything with this form, and Edwards and Dudley Moore, as an unusually responsible bigamist, rigorously obey the bizarre laws of the fantasy world, once established. Indeed, most of the weight of the film falls on Moore's shoulders, and he is wonderful in the role. As the two wives unaware of each other's existence, neither Ann Reinking nor Amy Irving quite have the comic instincts required here. But Richard Mulligan, as Moore's astonished friend, and Wallace Shawn, as the wives' gynecologist, are excellent. As always with Edwards, it pays to watch closely, since some of the funniest bits, such as the irritated Moore's interview with a male model, are virtual throwaways. The film did well commercially, providing Edwards with the freedom to make a string of some of the worst films of his career. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
John Pleshette - Hap Ludlow; H.B. Haggerty - Barkhas Guillory; Lu Leonard - Nurse Verbeck; Priscilla Pointer - Diana Hutchinson; Robert Symonds - Ezra Hutchinson; George Coe - Governor Lanford; Andre the Giant - Andre the Giant; Billy Beck - Finn; Ed Call - Campaign Manager; Phillippe Denham - TV Cameraman; Christa Denton - Alice Lanford; Lou Felder - Sales Clerk; Edith Fields - Valerie Sitkowitz; Gerry Gibson - Ben Sitkowitz; Wiley Harker - Oliver Cushing III; Hanna Hertelendy - Admissions Clerk; Robby Kiger - Ehren Lanford; Virginia Kiser - Mrs. Lanford; Gene Lebell - Wrestling Referee; Tiiu Leek - Newscaster; Jaime McEnnan - 5-Year-Old Boy; Ken Olfson - Interior Decorator; Roger Rose - Newscaster; Gustav Vintas - Dr. Kondoleon; Emma Walton - Maude's Nurse; Jamie Abbott - Frank Lanford; Robert Nadder - Geologist; Peter Nicholas - Male Model; Ruth Silveira - Micki's Nurse; Joe Davis - Male Model; Jack "Wildman" Armstrong - Wrestler; Richard Drown - Stunt Double; John J. Flynn Jr. - Madman O'Rourke; Jerry Martin - Security Guard; Tina Theberge - Maid of Honor; Marc Harris - 3-Year-Old Boy
Credit
Jack Senter - Art Director, Trish Caroselli - Associate Producer, Nancy Klopper - Casting, Pat Norris - Costume Designer, Mickey McCardle - First Assistant Director, Blake Edwards - Director, Ralph Winters - Editor, Lou Antonio - Executive Producer, Jonathan D. Krane - Executive Producer, Lee Holdridge - Composer (Music Score), Michel Legrand - Composer (Music Score), Jerry Jost - Musical Direction/Supervision, Alan Bergman - Songwriter, Marilyn Bergman - Songwriter, Michel Legrand - Songwriter, Gary D. Liddiard - Makeup, Richard Sharp - Makeup, Rodger Maus - Production Designer, Harry Stradling, Jr. - Cinematographer, Alan Levine - Production Manager, Tony Adams - Producer, Lou Antonio - Producer, Stuart A. Reiss - Set Designer, Roy Downey - Special Effects, Jerry Jost - Sound/Sound Designer, Joe Dunne - Stunts, Blake Edwards - Screenwriter, Jonathan Reynolds - Screenwriter
In 1985, Moore won the Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical. The film was also Golden Globe-nominated for Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical.
With the exception of appearances as herself, as in the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom in 2005, this was Reinking's last film role.
This movie co-stars Wallace Shawn and includes a brief glimpse of wrestler André the Giant. However, unlike their later roles in The Princess Bride, the two do not have any scenes together.
Plot
Rob Salinger is an overworked television reporter. He is happily married to Micki, a lawyer who is a candidate to become a judge, but she has been unable to bear a child and Rob wants one badly.
On an assignment, Rob interviews a young musician named Maude and is smitten by her. Maude, a cellist, has no idea he is married. They begin seeing one another and, when she becomes pregnant, Maude and her professional wrestler father begin to plan her wedding.
Prepared to face the music, confess to Micki and agree to a divorce, Rob is stunned when she reveals that she, too, is going to give birth.
Rob becomes a bigamist. With his television boss Leo covering for him, he sees one wife during the daytime and the other at night, using work as an excuse.
He gets away with it until the fates collide, Micki and Maude going into labor at the same hospital on the same floor at the same time.
The two women end up becoming friends, but they ban Rob from their lives as well as the lives of his new children. Rob follows them around, spying on both families from a distance.
