Phffft (1954)

I love this movie so much

One of my all time favorites.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

"I want a divorce!" How many times have these words been spoken in haste and unthinking anger? For divorcing couple Jack Lemmon and Judy Holliday, it's going to be a bitter one, and neither party will be able to get the other one off their mind. They each have flashbacks to happier times, alternating between smiling and scowling as they remember the past and what brought them to this point in their lives. A sudden chance encounter on the mambo dance floor ignites a spark again as they take over the floor with a dance that is both hysterically funny and sexy. There's interference by Lemmon's pal Jack Carson and her mother, with Lemmon distracted by the sultry but over analyzing Kim Novak, only on occasion utilizing that breathy speech pattern that became her trademark. It's a great way to get a film acting career off the ground.Thus is an adult comedy, one I didn't appreciate when I was in my 20's, but years later, seems smart and really on the money when it comes to describing adult relationships. Only four years older than Lemon, Ms. Holliday has a youthful quality that makes her seem ageless. Lemmon is a perfect leading man for her. It is a shame that they only made two films together. There's no "Phffft!" to their pairing.

I love that scene where the phony doctor and nurse keep upstaging each other while on TV. What a sparkling little comedy from two of the best comedic actors of the time —Holliday and Lemmon. Holliday is less pixilated than usual, but then she does play a TV writer. Lemmon also has fewer tics than usual, but that doesn't hamper the laughs at all. They play a married couple who divorce when he prefers reading second-rate Mickey Spillane to her. Of course, once divorced, they pine for each other following a series of comedic misadventures.That manic dance number alone is worth the price of admission. I just hope they did it in one take, otherwise get out the respirator. Then too the "whooshing" bed proves a great bit of comedic inspiration. Note how its whooshing back and forth becomes innuendo in that flashback scene where they first meet. And what a cutely appropriate final whoosh to the movie as a whole.A lot of credit should go to ace screenwriter Axelrod, who devises a series of amusing episodes where Nina (Holliday) and Robert (Lemmon) try to out-do one another in the I'm-so-over-you department. He grows a mustache and gets a sports car, while she does what any woman is expected to do—she gets a new wardrobe. Meanwhile, that expert performer Jack Carson lends first-rate actorly support but questionable best-friend advice; at the same time, Kim Novak gets into the swing with a vivacious party-girl performance.All in all, the set-ups wear well despite the years. Sure, it's only well done fluff. Still, I'm just sorry there weren't more Holliday-Lemmon pairings, since their styles blend so perfectly as this movie so humorously demonstrates.

In an incredible coincidence Phffft marked the second featured role for both Jack Lemmon and Kim Novak. It was also the second time that Lemmon was co-starred with Judy Holliday, the two having made such a hit in his debut feature film, It Should Happen To You. Though I don't think it was as funny as the first one, Phffft definitely got it's share of laughs. And Novak refined her ersatz Marilyn Monroe imitation for Harry Cohn and Columbia Studios.A seemingly happily married couple Lemmon and Holliday both arrive at the conclusion that they seem to be in a rut after 8 years. So just like that they get themselves divorced.Lemmon moves in with his old navy buddy Jack Carson who is playing his usual screen lout and starts to live the bachelor life again. Judy goes back to Mom who's an interior decorator and she starts dating as well. But as fate would have it, these two keep running into each other and maybe what they had wasn't so bad after all.Carson's a great pal, setting up Lemmon with Novak so he can finally make a move on Holliday now that she's free. As for Holliday, she's a writer for NBC and does a soap opera. Her first experience in the dating scene is with the leading man in the show, Donald Curtis. He's making his move on her because first and foremost he wants more of the show to himself and is relying on his leading man charm to see that happens. That's quite a comedown for Holliday, Curtis is very good as the actor quite full of himself.I guess the ultimate lesson of Phffft is don't mess with the fates.

One can say that this role set the direction of Lemmon's career—establishing him as an able lead in sex comedies. This one is a screwball of a very delicious finesse and elegance and sense of fun. The cast is above all expectations—Lemmon, keeping his character in a nuanced and subtle form. This early Lemmon recital is finely matched by the comedy's nature—a sharp and palatable one. More important—there is this timeless elegance that prevents the movie from being dated.You know what is does? It enhances the appetite for life and love. Some call this feel—good cinema. Each frame, each scene is somehow delicious and first—hand—a lot of talent displayed and intelligently used ,with a sort of an instinct for the good cinematography. It addresses an audience that was more apt to perceive the values of an urbane chic civilization. In this respect, it's not a bit phony. It doesn't pretend to be sophisticated and urban; it is.Mrs. Novak plays a stupid blonde. She has two very long scenes with Lemmon. Needless to say that she was amazingly beautiful in this film as well. In a few words, Phffft! (1954) has naturalness, flair, gusto, an enviable purity of line in its comic finesse. It is charming and surprisingly funny and good—natured. It's certainly better and more charming than many of the things Lemmon made later.Much of what's good is already there: Lemmon's bizarre laughter; the content and direction of the characters from his future comedies—the social class, men with money, that can afford drinks and fancy bars, etc.; the style—his refined vitality. All three actors (Lemmon,Mme. Judy Holliday,Mme. Novak) give this impression of vitality, of robustness and vitality.Elegant, sophisticated, Lemmon's character is created with an exquisite skill, and it's a stylistic achievement. The fact that, three decades later, his place was taken by W. Allen's characters as sophisticated male leads measures the entire gap between two lifestyles. (Not in the sense that W. Allen somehow continued Lemmon's line—he obviously did not—it would be grotesque and absurd to suggest that. On the contrary—what happened was that Lemmon's type was replaced with W. Allen's—that Lemmon's form of sophisticated urban comic was replaced ….) The times replaced Lemmon with W. Allen, with Gere and Cruise and H. Grant and others; the fact requires no comments. One subtly remarked that Lemmon's finesse reminds that of H. Fonda.Phffft! (1954) was made in '54—the year of It Should Happen to You (1954),and one year before Mister Roberts (1955) and My Sister Eileen (1955). Now for many movie buffs the '50s are the decade of the Actors' Studio stars—Dean, Brando, Newman, etc.. But the '50s meant also the rise of this fine actor;Lemmon is the other, cuter, nicer face of the '50s—and, paradoxically, maybe the more true one.In a list of screwball comedies, Phffft! (1954) wasn't even included; though it's, aesthetically, one of the most important achievements in this genre. I liked it more than Bell, Book and Candle (1958); and …but dare I say it? I liked it more than Some Like It Hot (1959). It's less mechanic, more charming, less perfect technically—but more inspired and gracious. It is discretely humane in a way that only these nonchalant comedies can afford being. It is genuine fun.It is particularly pleasing to see that such a comedy knows exactly what it sets itself up to—hence, the flawless taste and the purity of line. If you have an enormous appetite for quality comedies, this one comes as a treat. And everybody on set was obviously interested in doing his best. So you have competence allied to inspiration. It is unpretentious yet good cinema.Lemmon effortlessly (I assume) embodied the genuine hedonism and egoism of a certain social class in the aftermath of WW2. His character is usually basically nice yet egoist and hedonist in a profoundly selfish way. A little sly--boots ,also. Later, he deepened and explored this character and followed his fluctuations in the social history that followed the merry youthful '50s. Maybe it's the hedonism that defines him best. Like the demoniac side that Lemmon explored in a few humorous films, this egoistic side of his character established the behavior deployed in the many sex—comedies he made. It would not be exaggerated to say that this comedy is a document from a lost civilization. It showcases a certain image of the stylish '50s—it does so with charm and finesse.Early Lemmon recital ;it gains by finesse, naturalness and nonchalant charmPhffft! (1954) is a fantastically enjoyable film—and artistically and in every way more profound than the crap Hollywood is making today.It might make one love Judy Holliday if he did not already--or,to love her even more.