SavvyDalmia
I don't know why films like this one aren't made anymore. (Probably because PCness has made it really hard to get away with a lot of jokes.) Equal parts ridiculous and shocking, perhaps a bit too shocking for delicate sensibilities, the film does not have a boring moment. Thoroughly entertaining, extremely noneducational, and highly hilarious.
suite92
The Three Acts:The initial tableaux: The film is an anthology. Each story is about an aspect (or several) of sexual behaviour.a. Chastity belts and aphrodisiac potions in medieval times in England.b. Gene Wilder as a respected physician who falls in lust with a patient's sheep.c. Italian-speaking Woody Allen trying to be as macho as possible, but cannot initially find the key to his wife's satisfaction.d. A middle class man experiments with women's clothes.e. A game show, filmed in grainy black and white, has panelists attempting to guess the perversion of the guest.f. John Huston as the mad scientist rejected by Masters and Johnson. He's out to prove his strange theories. As a side effect (second part of the vignette), a giant mobile breast is created that terrorises the countryside. Allen and MacRae play a scientist and a journalist covering the action.g. Tony Randall quarterbacks the male brain's attempt to manage bodily resources during a hot romantic date.Delineation of conflicts: In each case, some aspect of sexual behaviour is explored. The vignettes are self-contained. The common thread, though, is that some private behaviour can become public, with consequences varying from embarrassment to jail to death.Resolution: The surfacing of private sexual behaviour is done for comic effect.
peefyn
I quite enjoyed the format of this, and Allen managed to make short self-contained stories that fit nicely with a theme and each other. Some of the shorts were better than others, but none of them stuck out as very much better (or worse) than the rest. The highlights were certain inspired moments, that I am sure was the ideas that the whole shorts were built around. In one of the shorts, Allen plays a sperm cell, and the pick of song they sing before they're off was brilliant.But it wasn't all good. I feel that shorts like these are more "skits" than anything else, and the premises for skits were all good and memorable - but most of them were a bit too long to keep the steam going. The one with the goat was fun, but at one point you know pretty much know where it is going. The one about transsexuals felt like an episode of Curb your enthusiasm, but without a particularly satisfying pay off (though the discussion in the end at least provided some more substance to it).Perhaps it is due to this movie being over forty years old? That nowadays we want everything to go faster, so this feels dragged out? Either way, it was not a big problem, and this is still a solid (and strange) movie that's worth checking out.
SnoopyStyle
This is seven segments of weird stories about sex. They are basically extended skits and with varying degrees of success.1.Do Aphrodisiacs Work? Woody Allen is a court jester and Lynn Redgrave is the Queen with a chastity belt. I like this one for Woody and Lynn. They have some fun together.2.What Is Sodomy? Gene Wilder and a sheep is a one joke skit. It runs out of steam and don't go anywhere truly surprising.3.Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm? The Italian is funny for about 5 seconds. Then it becomes style over substance. Other than a malfunctioning dildo, I don't think any of it is particularly funny.4.Are Transvestites Homosexuals? Sam Musgrave (Lou Jacobi) is a middle-aged married man trying out women's clothes. It's dated and it's also missing Woody. I can only imagine Woody trying to hide his cross dressing.5.What Are Sex Perverts? It's a black and white parody of the TV game show What's My Line? It's a bit weird as if in a surreal alternate universe.6.Are the Findings of Doctors and Clinics Who Do Sexual Research and Experiments Accurate? Researcher Victor (Woody Allen) and reporter Helen Lacey (Heather MacRae) are going to Dr. Bernardo (John Carradine), a former colleague of Masters and Johnson. He's got an assistant named Igor. It's classic Woody dealing with a madman. Carradine is hilarious as a Frankenstein-like character.7.What Happens During Ejaculation? This takes a look at a man's body like a NASA operation with many characters controlling him. This is the best segment and has the iconic sperm-Woody. This is by far the funniest. Woody left the best for last.
AD
