While this is an American film version of a foreign film, it seems more to be a rip-off of "10". Married Gene Wilder spots a beautiful woman (Kelly Lee Brock) and becomes obsessed with her. He basically spends 90 minutes humiliating himself, leading on a needy secretary (Gilda Radner, totally wasted), and making excuses to his devoted wife (Judith Ivey). Radner tries to be funny with her "Fatal Attraction" like revenge, but the material betrays her. Some good shots of mid 80's San Francisco and a series of pleasant songs by Stevie Wonder and Dionne Warwick (including the Academy Award Winning "I Just Called to Say I Love You") help make this a slight bit more tolerable, but the humor is juvenile, the set-up beyond believable, and the script (by Wilder) dull. A scene with one of Wilder's workers pretending to be blind in a restaurant and destroying it is a pale imitation of the similar scene in the W.C. Fields classic "It's a Gift" and totally out of place.
As for LeBrock, she is certainly eye catching in the garage scene wearing the titular red dress, but is a beautiful block of ice otherwise. Wilder is a talented comic, but he seems to be holding back (strange considering he was directing himself speaking his own dialog!) and is definitely missing the partnership that shown on screen for him with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor in previous ventures. Radner, one of the funniest women since Lucy, deserved much better in the few films she made, and her presence is a total missed opportunity. Ivey would fare better on stage and in later character roles where she was truly able to let herself go. Joseph Bologna and Charles Grodin are even more wasted as Wilder's cronies. With talent like this, you expect so much more.
As for LeBrock, she is certainly eye catching in the garage scene wearing the titular red dress, but is a beautiful block of ice otherwise. Wilder is a talented comic, but he seems to be holding back (strange considering he was directing himself speaking his own dialog!) and is definitely missing the partnership that shown on screen for him with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor in previous ventures. Radner, one of the funniest women since Lucy, deserved much better in the few films she made, and her presence is a total missed opportunity. Ivey would fare better on stage and in later character roles where she was truly able to let herself go. Joseph Bologna and Charles Grodin are even more wasted as Wilder's cronies. With talent like this, you expect so much more.