Themes: Lovers Reunited, Foibles of Marriage, Wedding Bells
Main Cast: Walter Matthau, Walter Matthau, Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris, Lee Grant, Louise Sorel
Release Year: 1971
Country: US
Run Time: 114 minutes
MPAA Rating: GP
Plot
It is not uncommon for actors to double and triple in roles while appearing in the "omnibus" plays of Neil Simon. Plaza Suite was the first film version of a Simon play to carry over the multiple-role device to the screen. Walter Matthau appears in all three one-act playlets comprising Plaza Suite, with a different leading lady in each. First we see Matthau as the husband of Maureen Stapleton, nostalgically returning to the same hotel suite where they'd spent their honeymoon 24 years earlier. Times have changed, however, and the twosome spend more timing sniping at one another than pitching woo. The second vignette casts Matthau as an effusive movie producer (lavish toupee and all) who hopes to seduce his old sweetheart Barbara Harris. The third and best sequence finds Matthau and Lee Grant playing the parents of a bride who steadfastly refuses to leave her locked room to attend her own wedding. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The plays of Neil Simon have not always transferred successfully to the screen, often due to the difficulty in "opening up" the usual one-set properties for the film. It's a surprise, therefore, that Plaza Suite -- which is entirely built around the one-set concept -- works so well. True, director Arthur Hiller has managed to sneak in some "outside" segments, but most of the action still takes place indoors. A large portion of the credit for its success goes to Walter Matthau, playing three different yet recognizably "Matthau-ian" characters and imbuing them with the arrogance, anger, and snarl that are part of his charm -- as well as several shakes of sympathy and vulnerability when appropriate. He is well served by his leading ladies, with Maureen Stapleton touching, Barbara Harris hysterical, and Lee Grant carefully over-the-top. (Viewers are well advised to pay special attention to Harris; one of our most gifted comic actresses, she rarely received the roles she deserved.) There's always a problem with "anthology" films, in that some sequences will seem stronger and some weaker than others. How one rates these three probably depends upon one's taste. Suffice it to say that the first has a lovely rueful quality to it, the second a lightheartedly sexiness, and the third a professional zaniness. Take your pick or enjoy all three. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Tom Carey - Borden Eisler; Augusta Dabney - Mrs. Eisler; Dan Ferrone - Bellhop; Alan North - Mr. Eisler; Jose Ocasio - Waiter; Jenny Sullivan - Mimsey Hubley
Like the play, the film is divided into three acts, all set in Suite 719 of New York City's Plaza Hotel. The first focuses on not-so-blissfully wedded couple Sam and Karen Nash, who are revisiting their honeymoon suite in an attempt - by Karen - to bring the love back into their marriage. Her plan backfires and the two become embroiled in a heated argument about whether or not Sam is having an affair with his secretary Miss McCormack. Sam eventually walks out, allegedly to attend to urgent business, and Karen is left to reflect on how much things have changed since they were newlyweds.
The second act involves a meeting between Hollywood movie producer Jesse Kiplinger and his old flame, suburban housewife Muriel Tate. Muriel - aware of his reputation as a smooth-talking ladies' man - has come to the hotel for nothing more than a chat between old friends, promising herself she will not stay too long. Jesse, however, has other plans in mind and repeatedly attempts to seduce her.
The third act revolves around married couple Roy and Norma Hubley on the wedding day of their daughter Mimsey, who has locked herself in the suite's bathroom and stubbornly refuses to come out. The segment is filled with increasingly outrageous slapstick moments depicting her parents' frantic attempts to cajole her into attending her wedding while the gathered guests await the trio's arrival downstairs.
Production
In the Broadway production of the original play, all three couples were played by George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton. For the film adaptation, director Arthur Hiller decided to cast Walter Matthau in the three male roles but use a different actress for each of the females. Screenwriter Neil Simon was unhappy with the results. "I didn't like the cast. I didn't like the picture. I would only have used Walter in the last sequence and probably Lee Grant. I think Walter Matthau was wrong to play all three parts. That's a trick Peter Sellers can do." He continued, "I have to accept some of the blame for the film. I kept all the action in one room. It was rather confining. We could have gone into other suites. I didn't think it out, but I learned from that." [1]
Cast
Walter Matthau ..... Sam Nash/Jesse Kiplinger/Roy Hubley
Channel 4 calls the film "a fine, if rather dated comedy, a kooky document of its times, and a clever meditation upon the effects of time upon love." [2]
The film was released on Region 1 DVD on November 25, 2003. It is in anamorphic widescreen format with audio tracks in English and French and subtitles in English.
