I can't believe Leonard Maltin dissed this picture -- it's a rare gem of trippy brilliance, influential as hell on arbiters of style like "Absolutely Fabulous" and the "Austin Power" series. Lynn Redgrave (!),fresh out of "Georgy Girl", bumbles through looking like a great big blonde lovable cow in a succession of astonishing wigs, while her costar Rita Tushingham (!!) veers back and forth from frumpy/frowny to slapstick/mime to The Face of the 60's. The humor is broad and scatological, but cutting when its satire -- sample song lyric: "I can't sing, but I'm young!!" If you can find it, grab it.

'Smashing time' is a well-made English comedy, set in the famous Swinging London of the mid-Sixties. And shot in the same city in the same period, adding extra authenticity.

This film is just fun, without any pretense. The hilarious interaction between Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave, successfully coupled as girlfriends, makes it work. Some of its scenes are clearly inspired by Laurel and Hardy.

'Girlfriends', I said. This friendship between the two heterosexual female leads is devoid of any sex. Such a formula wouldn't probably sell today, but back in the Sixties it did. A friendship of this kind makes this film's core.

Brenda and Yvonne truly are smashing, a 60's variation of Patsy and Edina, and a British variation of Laverne and Shirley, and Romy and Michelle. If you feel like you're visiting the neighborhood of "Are You Being Served?'s" Grace Brothers, you may have a reason for feeling that way. Jeremy Lloyd, who has a supporting role here, went onto create that 70's phenomenon, a cult favorite in America, without which I wouldn't have begun to understand a bit about British culture.

Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave star here as the two young ladies, new to London, undergoing many changes in their lives, and all of a sudden becoming celebrities of the highest order as Tushingham's Brenda becomes an unlikely model and Redgrave's more outgoing Yvonne soars to the top of the charts as a recording artist. But along the way, they find hysterically funny struggles with Tushingham creating a bit of a greasy spoon condiment fight, and later Redgrave doing the same in an elaborate pie shop, morbidly called "Sweeney Todd's".

Then there's their encounters with eccentric photographer Michael York and a brief association with mod fashion shop owner Anna Quayle who seems more interested in the party atmosphere she creates for her gay chums than selling clothes. Tushingham and Redgrave's rise to fame isn't without its disasters either, literally showering the city with darkness. The over the top view of London during the swinging 60's is delightful, filled with cheesy songs, outrageous costumes and deliciously bizarre characters. This has made me more curious about this era of British film as well as the many psychadelic themes influenced in American cinema as this genre crossed continents.