George Kaczender's In Praise of Older Women, from Stephen Vizinczey's novel of the same name, is an extremely controversial film. The Canadian version of the MPAA objected to the nudity and explicit simulated sex in the film and would not release it unless Kaczender removed 2 minutes of footage. Kaczender was willing to remove 10 seconds of footage. Eventually, a compromise was reached and 30 seconds were edited out of the film. IPOW was released in 1978 and won 4 "Genie" Awards.Regardless, IPOW is nothing more than a classier version of the type of film The Asylum would produce in 2014. Tom Berenger, in his second notable film appearance, plays Andras Vayda, a young man who wants to be a professor and is looking for love. Thing is, he doesn't want to get frisky with women his own age. He seems more interested in seducing women who are 15 years his senior or older. Throughout the movie, he has affairs with a number of older women throughout a 12 year period played by the likes of Karen Black, Marilyn Lightstone, Susan Strasburg, Alexandra Stewart and Helen Shaver (who was actually 2 years younger than Berenger was) while an older voice representing him narrates at times.Despite being nothing more than soft core pornography, there are some good scenes. Alberta Watson, another one of his conquests, plays a cabaret singer dressed in a French outfit who sings a seductive song that piques his interest. Shaver, who won a "Genie" for her character of Ann MacDonald, offers some light comic relief and Black is as solid as ever as Maya, the gateway to Andras' love of cougars. Berenger shows promise as an actor early on but despite his top billing, cedes to the established actresses. The movie also uses the 1956 Hungarian Revolution as a backdrop and then later his time as a professor in Montreal.While not a great piece of cinema, it is a good film among 1970's erotica and it's elevated by the big names in the cast, present and future. Certainly worth a look for curiosity sake.

I caught this playing constantly on cable TV late at night back in the early 80s. Not much of a plot. It's just about hunky Tom Berenger (who was only 29 when he made this) seducing one older woman after another. That's all it is--nothing else...but not bad for what it is. The woman themselves are all very beautiful, have nice bodies and (surprisingly) are good actresses--Karen Black and Helen Shaver especially. The only disappointment in the film was there were next to no full frontal nude shots of Berenger. The women show everything but not him and--let's face it--back then he WAS very handsome and had a great body. There are only flashes of his "best parts" and (for some reason) even THOSE were clumsily edited out the last time I saw the pic (in the mid 80s)! If you're gonna do a soft core pic let's see everything. That aside it was a light, enjoyable sex film--nothing more. I give it a 7.

"In Praise of Older Women" is relatively true to the excellent psychological/philosophical novel it is based on. However, the problem is that all its intellectual elements (such as its theories about the reasoning behind promiscuity) are removed in the adaptation. The result is a soft porn movie which is unintentionally hilarious due to awkwardness and bad acting. Andras, the skirt-chasing protagonist, is presented as a dip who throws a temper tantrum when one of his lovers leaves him and delivers lines like "Give us the grand tour, pops." or "This exquisite antique ashtray could be yours if you promise to become my lover." as awkwardly as if he actually knew how lame he sounded (which Tom Berenger, who played him, probably did). A bad acting award should also go to the girl who played Andras´s first teenage girlfriend. She delivers her lines as if the characters she talked to were puppies or newborn babies but then, as my friend pointed out, she actually does act like a stupid flirty girl in her early teens who does not know what she wants in a boyfriend. The actresses who play Andras´s more adult girlfriends admittedly do a better job but still, they mostly play along with the soft porn cliche of upper class semi-intellectuals who treat sex as if it was art collecting or jogging. What do they see in a dork like Andras at their age anyway ? Also, what´s the deal with some of the Hungarian characters having Hungarian accents and the other Magyars having AMERICAN accents ? Nevertheless, I must reemphasize that this movie is fun. It made me laugh more than most typical "comedies" and some of the dramatic scenes, such as the one where Andras must flee Hungary , actually do work dramatically. The sex scenes, while pretty mild by today´s standards, look relatively realistic. The insights into Hungarian culture are interesting too. Nevertheless, trash is trash and I love it !

If you can accept this Canadian made film as light entertainment, and not expect too much, you will definitely enjoy it. Unfortunately, at the time of release,it was unfavorably compared to the novel,and received some undeservedly vicious reviews,but it was a huge hit in Canada, where Helen Shaver received a best supporting Actress award for it.Tom Berenger is remarkably charismatic as a Hungarian lad who has romances with some of the international cinema's most accomplished(and underrated actresses) actresses, Karen Black, Susan Strasberg, and Alexandra Stewart,after striking out with a girl his age(Marianne MacIsaac, sounding quite like a young Marilyn Monroe). Is's a pleasure to watch the then novice, very handsome Berenger hold his own as an actor against this talented trio. Much was written about the film's sexuality and nudity, but it's not much, except for an extremely heated closing encounter between Tom and Helen Shaver. All in all, a memorable, unique film.