Rick and Eugene (Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis) are roommates and artists. Business is not good. However, Eugene's crazy dreams (influenced by his constantly reading comic books) which keep Rick asleep turn out to be a GOOD thing, as he talks them out in his sleep--and Rick then writes down what Eugene says and puts them in a comic book! The kids love 'em and this comic book world also brings them into contact with two cuties--Abigale (Dorothy Malone) for Rick and Bessie (Shirley MacLaine) is smitten with Eugene. On a cute twist, when Eugene first sees Bessie, she is dressed up as a model for Abigale to draw--and she is dressed as 'Bat Lady'. Eugen is smitten....but not so smitten with her when she's in her normal guise--and he doesn't know they are the same person! Later, it turns out that the material Eugene unknowingly gives Rick happens to miraculously have fragments of US Government secrets. And, spies are interested in find out more! Rick quickly picks up on this and alerts the government--who then ask Rick to go along with the spies and to let himself get vamped (by Eva Gabor) so he can learn more about her organization--but his girlfriend (Malone) is not amused. Tune in if you want to find out what happens next.

Overall, while this is not a great film (understanding I am NOT a Martin & Lewis fan),it does have some clever moments and is pleasant. I especially liked the weird inside jokes--such as one making fun of Jimmy Stewart and "The Rear Window" and liked seeing Eugene sign his name on the easel near the end. But, the film also is pretty low-brow and only pleasant. But the plot is very original and I have to give the film some credit for this.

I was nearly going to call this Martin and Jerry Lewis's best film ever, that was until Shirley MacLaine began singing that song and laid a golden egg. It's a Dean Martin song that she sabotages, and completely overdoes it in the first of her films that was released even though "The Trouble with Harry" was made first. Fortunately, it's only 3 minutes of torture, and the remainder of the film is actually quite good, surprising because most of their films and Lewis's later films do not appeal to me in the least.

Martin and Lewis play struggling artists who finally find success when Lewis's dreams become the subject for Martin's comic book success that pays off all of their back rent (to landlady Kathleen Freeman),and it's when Lewis runs into MacLaine, posing as a bat woman, that he begins having a variety of fantasies that he verbally expresses while sleeping. A sketch involves Louis running from the bat lady to a heavy set neighbor so his tongue twisting rant about running from the bat lady to the fat lady is actually very funny.

Although he would have her as his love interest in several future films, Martin and MacLaine are not involved here. Instead, he gets Dorothy Malone, a serious minded artist who is concerned about the impact of comic books on the young mind. George "Foghorn" Winslow gets to dramatitize this in a very funny scene where his irate mother leaves him at the publishers office to create all sorts of chaos. Usually seems like this aggravate me because they are badly written and unfunny, but the gags that would normally be dreadful to me really did have me laughing out loud. A subplot of Lewis having military secrets stuck in his brain for some reason makes no sense, but isn't really distracting.

While MacLaine's big number left me cold, other musical numbers succeed such as Martin's Greenwich Village Street number with a group of children and the very artistic title song at the end. The songs aren't Award winners by any means, but they are staged with style and the Vista Vision photography and color is beautiful. Freeman as usual steals perfume moments on screen, and then there's a presence by one of the Gabor sisters (Eva) as the femme fatale. When she says "I'm looking for a man", there are more green acres on the streets of Manhattan than there are in Hooterville. Quite a lot of fun in spite of that one cringeworthy moment.

I first saw this movie in the 90's with my mother, a huge Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis fan. To this day it is my favorite movie from their pairing. The two play roommates who sing, dance, and at one point consider getting a divorce while trying to pay the rent on their NYC flat. They have a run-in of sorts with their upstairs neighbors and of course, all hilarity ensues. One of my favorite parts of the movie, however, is Shirley MacLaine, in her second movie role. She steals scenes from Lewis every chance she gets and is simply hilarious! The scene between her and Lewis on the stairs is one of my favorite movie moments of all time! I only wish MacLaine had gotten to make more movies with Lewis; they make for a pretty funny pair on screen! Watch for the scene between Martin and the little girl on the street; its a great song with some pretty impressive dancing on both parts. A great movie to watch if you're a fan of Lewis, Martin, or MacLaine.