Following their insult to humanity, “The Goodbye Girl” the previous year, Neil Simon and Herbert Ross took their condescending, careless attitude toward minorities to another level with the blatantly racist treatment of the four Black characters in “California Suite.” Maggie Smith has her Oscar-winning moments as Diana Barry, the British actress nominated for an Oscar (she’s the dark horse of the bunch). Her tête-à-têtes with her gay husband, Sidney (Michael Caine), are the only reason to see this charmless four-part anthology comedy set in the Beverly Hills Hotel (the hotel was hosting a David Hockney exhibition during the filming). It’s the companion piece to Simon’s “Plaza Suite,” which was set in New York.
Jane Fonda gets the post-Hanoi Jane rehabilitation treatment in her segment with Alan Alda. Meanwhile, Richard Prior, Bill Cosby and their onscreen partners suffer through one cringeworthy slapstick sequence after another. Sequences that would have been deemed unworthy of the Three Stooges in their prime, Simon’s contempt for other non-Jewish minority groups knew no limits.
The fourth segment involves Walter Matthau doing his usual schtick.
With music by Dave Grusin.
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