Popular songwriter George Webber (Dudley Moore) turns 42. He tells his singer girlfriend Samantha Taylor (Julie Andrews) that his life started at 40. He's having a midlife crisis. He is constantly fixated on young women. He follows one in particular who is a bride on her way to her wedding. Jenny Miles (Bo Derek) is the daughter of a prominent Beverly Hills dentist. He is struggling with the constant orgy next door, problems with Sam and drilling Jenny's father for information which leads to six cavities. He becomes fixated on Jenny and even follows the newlyweds on their honeymoon in Mexico.

George is utterly sad, pathetic and not always funny. He just isn't adorable like his character in 'Arthur'. They're both sleazy sex fiends but there's a meanness in George. Whereas Arthur is self-destructive, George is simply selfish. It's not quite as appealing. Also Arthur has a soul mate which Julie Andrews isn't playing in this movie. I'm probably less attracted to her character here more than anything. There are moments of fun but they are fleeting.

I do like Dudley Moore. He was a master musician, teacher, and comic. The problem was that his characters seem to bank on lowest common denominator efforts. Because most of us don't have the male credentials to entice someone like Bo Derek, we are left to only imagine. So what we have is a sad man who unhappy with what he has, making a fool of himself. It sets up another comedy by an odd looking little man, Gene Wilder, in The Woman in Red. The parts of the movie that are fun are the sight gags and pratfalls. This goes back to the roots of comedy, to the pathos of a Charlie Chaplain. But putting this into contemporary thought, we know it ain't gonna happen. Bo Derek is certainly quite the beauty, but other than the object of desire, doesn't have much to offer--or perhaps the plot doesn't. This is a pretty forgettable comedy, even with good intentions.

I just recently watched Dudley Moore in "Arthur" and it reminded me of this earlier movie in which he appeared, which had the unique distinction of introducing both Bo Derek and the number '10' into the popular lexicon. Although to be quite honest, my buddies and I were using the '1 to 10' rating system for some time before this even came out, and judging by today's standards, I guess that makes me something of an incorrigible reprobate. Not to mention politically incorrect, but I digress.

The passage of time has certainly taken the glow off of this popular flick of the late Seventies. All you'd ever see back then were those ubiquitous trailers of Derek frolicking her way toward the camera in that skin tight body suit, causing all manner of hypertension and mid-life crisis into the character of song writer George Webber (Moore). From the perspective of living well past the age of forty myself, George's self absorption and daydreaming his way into the life of Jenny Hanley (Derek) strikes me as decidedly silly, not to mention completely unrealistic. Jenny's willingness to partake in the creature comforts with George down in Las Hadas struck me as entirely contrived following her husband's luckless ocean outing, and George's opting out over the absurdity of it all was about the only meaningful decision he made in the picture.

I think the only person I felt more sorry for than George was that poor gal Mary Lewis (Dee Wallace) who placed George's inadequacy on her own shoulders. She probably deserved a better screen treatment than she got here. And if there ever was an actress who was asked to perform a thankless part, it would be Julie Andrews as the unappreciated girlfriend of lusty George. It seemed like no one could catch a break in this film, unless you go with Brian Dennehy as the sympathetic bartender who just rolled with the punches. He probably should have tried to hook up with Mary.