DIRECTOR: Herbert Ross
Following “The Goodbye Girl” the previous year, Neil Simon and Herbert Ross took their condescending, careless attitude toward minorities down 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 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, complete with paintings courtesy of David Hockney. It’s the companion piece to Simon’s “Plaza Suite,” which was set in New York.
| FOUR STORIES TAKING PLACE AT THE FAMED BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL |
Jane Fonda gets the post-Hanoi Jane rehabilitation treatment in her segment with Alan Alda. Meanwhile, Richard Prior, Bill Cosby and their onscreen partners Gloria Gifford and Sheila Frazier suffer through one cringeworthy slapstick indignity after another. Sequences that would have been deemed unworthy of the Three Stooges, in their prime, are hoisted upon them, confirming that Simon’s contempt for non-Jewish minority groups knew no limits.
The fourth segment, involving married Philadelphia couple Walter Matthau and Elaine May and a prostitute in their bed (Denise Galik), manages to generate a few tired old laughs.
Music by Dave Grusin.
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