Way back in the day when I saw this Jerry Lewis film in the theater it seemed a whole lot funnier. I guess the laughs haven't worn that well in 40 years. Certainly their predictions of the future certainly didn't wear that well.Way Way Out has the USA and the USSR still grappling in the Cold War with the newest theater of that war being the Moon where both superpowers have set up weather stations in the year 2000. The Russians have Anita Ekberg and Dick Shawn there, but being the atheistic Communists they are, the couple has been sent up without benefit of clergy. But Americans being the moral people that they are have reservations about that. Two men, Dennis Weaver and Howard Morris, have been on the Moon for a year and the sexual tensions are showing badly, especially on Morris. What's fascinating here is that the obvious relief for such tensions isn't hinted or implied. Remember this was America before Stonewall.So last minute astronaut Jerry Lewis is given a female partner in Connie Stevens in which they say the vows for convention's sake, but don't plan to do any deeds. Bad for the American image if a man and woman live alone on the Moon without being married, we're not godless and atheistic like those Russians.So the usual situations involving sex, the Cold War, and sex and the Cold War are brought into the story of Way Way Out. Merely the fact that history did not go the way that this film indicates lessens the laughs considerably. Jerry is more restrained than usual except when he does a drunk act with Shawn after they both get crocked on vodka. Shawn, Robert Morley as the NASA administrator and Brian Keith as an Air Force General go to town in their overacted parts.Way Way Out belongs in the third tier of Jerry Lewis's films.

OK, so it's not sophisticated Woody Allen comedy, or even high-tech science fiction. As we say in the math world: givens.But this one has some pieces which are over the top hilarious. The premise of this movie are noted in other comments and reviews, so I'm not going to waste time on that.Some things I'll always remember:**Howard Morris as Schmidlap. A galloping libido, stuck on the moon for a year with no female companionship, who descends into random violence towards Hoffman (played wonderfully by Dennis Weaver), includes two manic exchanges. Hoffman is pleading with the earth to send up replacements when the boss (Robert Morely) notices his front teeth are incomplete, and just casually asks what happened. Whereupon Hoffman responds that Schmidlap, in a testosterone fueled episode, knocked them out. Oh man, classic. The other event was when they're trying to get him in the spacecraft to go home to earth, and they have to practically hit him with a tranq dart to keep him from getting near Connie Stevens. Morris at his screwy, nutty, insanely funny best.**Brian Keith as General Hallenby. Oh my. Screaming, grumbling, and all with a lack of understanding of what's going on around him that's just rich. His exchange with Lewis, who's told he has to "Secure the moon", results in Lewis, quite appropriately asking why he should do such a thing. Hallenby's response? "None of your damn business, Mattimore, JUST SECURE THE MOON!" As in, you don't have the need to know, so shut up and do what I tell you. Brian Keith's battle with the TV remote is not to be missed.**Dick Shawn, a truly funny man, as a highly oversexed Russian, in a battle with "instant vodka" (just add water). Watching him struggle with the water jet, and eventually just giving up and swallowing the "instant vodka" tablets and then drinking water (talk about an instant DUI!) is just too priceless. And then, in a fit of western monogamy, he tries to warn Lewis not to try any frolics with Ekberg. His mangling of the word "hanky-panky" is a cheap joke, but Shawn pulls it off so well that I've remembered it for over 40 years.Yes, this isn't Lewis at his best. For me that will always be the original "Nutty Professor", but in watching a lot of movies in my time I've learned something I think about a lot with him in relation to this movie. It takes a huge talent to let someone else get all the laughs. Very few in movies today have that kind of class, and Lewis did, and does.So sure, it's not high brow humor. So what? It was funny, in spots, and that's not a bad thing.

I love crazy sixties films and this is one of them. I'm not a Jerry Lewis fan but I thought he was funny, not over the top or exaggerating. Connie Stevens is very cute in the American girl next door kind of way.Anita Ekberg surprised me. It was so bizarre that this La Dolce Vita star would team up with Jerry Lewis but she did, and it proves she was a good comedienne too. In this film she's a brunette (awful hairdo, tho) and looks not a little like Garbo! The poor thing has to wear bathing suits the entire film. Robert Morley is in it too and is as lovable British as ever. He could make any part he played lively and fun. James Brolin and Linda Harrison (Planet of the Apes) are in it too, as is Dennis Weaver. The special effects are quite good for 1966 and quite camp for today. The title tune by Lalo Schifrin is catchy. I saw this on a German DVD in English with the soundtrack at times changing to German at times. Really bizarre to see Jerry Lewis in space in German!

Saw this as a teen first time it hit TV - and laughed nearly all the way. Many good lines that stand the test of time (you should hear what she wanted to do last night) as well as usual over-the-top performance from Lewis and (more so) from Shawn.Some of the humour is based on the very REAL socio-political situation with the space race and the cold war, so younger viewers might not always "get it". Too bad. You should still get enough from the rest of the lines. Movie wasn't meant to be "camp" in original release, but should gain somewhat due to campy appearance from a late 90's perspective.Rent it - have some laughs - and "soap (yourself) all over".