July 29, 2013
Movie Night: Cactus Flower.
Review #438: Cactus Flower.
Cast
Walter Matthau (Dr. Julian Winston), Ingrid Bergman (Stephanie Dickinson), Goldie Hawn (Toni Simmons), Jack Weston (Harvey Greenfield), Rick Lenz (Igor Sullivan), Vito Scotti (Señor Arturo Sánchez), Irene Hervey (Mrs. Durant), and Eve Bruce (Georgia) Directed by Gene Saks.
Review
This film is (sadly) connected with the grand atrocity Just Go With It, reviewed nearly 400 reviews ago, as that was a remake of Cactus Flower, which was also inspired Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?, a 2005 film made in India which is probably way better than Just Go With It. Goldie Hawn makes her first starring role as a main lead, though her first movie appearance was in The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band. Hawn, who had previously been on Laugh-In, won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this film, and I can see why. She's charming, she has talent and she's a very convincing actress and she stands her ground of being notable, especially at the likes of Matthau and Bergman. The actors are what that "remake" had nothing of: Funny. They convey the laughs, they aren't too vulgar in their approach, and...this is has a good story to it (Being based off the play Fleur de cactus by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Grédy), which makes sense. Matthau and Bergman are very good, and when combined with Hawn and also Lenz, this makes a dynamic comedy that blows its remake into the graveyard of terrible remakes. I could say more, but half of what would be said would be further trying to prove that Adam Sandler can't make a funny 2000s comedy and that Goldie Hawn, Walter Matthau and Ingrid Bergman do a great job and the dialogue, which works well. So it's best to quit while I'm (probably) ahead.
Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.
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