even Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows with Gale Storm in 1956...could not make this a first-class play > yes, there are 4-5 hilarious one liners and some pretty funny slapstick but what's the fuss about? on 2nd thought, we can look at this 3 act play as a Matthau tour de force...although the flat, tired, dragged out proceedings make it at the level of a watchable 1971 TV movie. and the names Eisler and HUbley, while seeking to betray the dignified upper ten really are about very nervous blue collar folks, wondering if the expensive wedding may turn into a very expensive lunch, only > will the pampered 21 year old, having 2nd thoughts cowering in a upscale powder room, emerge before the next party arrives? many opportunities to really sell a scene are ruined by offhand gibberish - again, suggesting that the author compulsively threw this thing together...on a limo ride to a wedding.

I couldn't relate to that other review at all. We're talking about a seriously entertaining film here, I'm not sure exactly what was boring about it. The hilarity was pretty much non-stop, all the roles were delightfully impeccable, and I doubt that the writing could be flawed at all. I can see how the recommendation below points towards "The Royal Tenenbaums" too, obviously the comedy here-in takes a certain understanding to fully sink in. Not to mention the brilliant poignancy it leaves behind."Boring"... feh. That's someone who needs a good hard drink.

Matthau scores in all three vignettes from Neil Simon's long running triumph about different people who stay at a particular room in the posh New York hotel. His three ladies Stapelton, Harris and Grant are also wonderful. This is among the best of Simon's works to be adapted for the screen.

I expected this 1971 film to be a bright comedy. Instead I was presented with the filming of a very deep three-part stage play about the dark side of human relationships; only the last of the three stories could really be called funny.A bride-to-be locks herself in the bathroom and her parents go through all kinds of hilarious slapstick agony trying to persuade her to come out. It is free of the darker undertones of the first two vignettes and has a cute surprise ending with a happy message. The other two, while being wry and witty in places, are really commentaries on the nature of man's unfaithfulness and exploitation of women, and women's culpability in allowing that state of affairs to develop and continue.Walter Matthau plays the lead in each of the three stories, which take place in the same suite, 719, of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. He has different leading ladies in each one: Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris and Lee Grant. There are a few incidental characters but the stories revolve around the two main characters in each story. The dialogue is quite true to real life, even appearing to be repetitive and meaningless in places as real life conversations can be, but the playwright is taking us in each case to a specific understanding of the characters. There is nothing extraneous even though at first it appears to be cluttered with incidentals.In the first story, a husband and wife check into the Plaza Hotel for their anniversary - and then things begin to fall apart. Maureen Stapleton as the seemingly scatterbrained wife is brilliant in playing both the tragic and comic aspects of this complicated role. As the story unfolds we realize things are not as they appear on the surface.In the second story, a sleazy Hollywood businessman calls up various names in his little black book so that he can have some woman - any woman - come to his suite for sex from 2 to 4 between meetings. The woman from his past whom he persuades to show up is both afraid of the possible seduction and hoping he will talk her into it. This is all too painful and familiar a scenario and anyone will relate to the awkward dance between two individuals who have to try to save face while getting their needs met.If you are looking for a light and fluffy comedy this is not the one to choose. It will disturb you and make you think about the tragic aspects of love, sex and marriage, long after it is over.