Storyline

Painter Rick Todd (Dean Martin) is having difficulty with his career, so he starts taking inspiration from the dreams of his friend and roommate, Eugene (Jerry Lewis), a comic book fan who narrates an adventure story while he sleeps. Unbeknown to Eugene, Abigail Parker (Dorothy Malone), the artist for his favorite comic book, lives in the same building with her roommate, Bessie (Shirley MacLaine), the model for Abigail's drawings. Eventually, the two pairs meet, and Bessie takes to Eugene.

Plot Keywords

painter, friend, illustrator, model, publisher, spy, cheeky, amusing, outlandish, wild, new york city, apartment, ballroom, career, publishing, comic books, roommates, cold war, protest, discovery, love, 1950s

Short Review

"I'm here to talk to the children and to the parents of the children because if there weren't parents then there wouldn't be children. And vice-versa."Though Martin soared to greater heights in the popular consciousness in the long term, Jerry Lewis was arguably more influential when it came to genre development, creating an act that combined physical comedy and a manic energy that would be cited by a half century of successors; Jim Carrey is shockingly similar not only in style and the range of physical capability, just updated for a different generation. Together, they make a classic straight man/goofball pairing; that said, Artists and Models is a somewhat intermittent example of their work. A lot of the runtime is essentially just a series of situational bits from Lewis followed by a croon or romcom bit from the more classically 'leading man' Martin, repeated ad infinitum, and without proper preparation Lewis' artificially tinny voice can get real old real fast. About two thirds of the way through the film, the plot switches to a bizarre Cold War comedy thriller that was not even hinted at previously, which can either be jarring or appropriately goofy based on your expectations. Personally, I liked it in pieces but never felt that it was a comprehensive whole, but that may just be the more dated pieces showing up prominently compared to the decades of films that evolved the style and genre.Certainly not all bad, with a series of some of Lewis' better comedic bits that are great in small doses, but it just didn't come together as a total package for me. (3/5)

Trailer

Streaming Service

1. Amazon Video : Rent from $1.99, Or $0.00 with a Prime membership

2. Apple iTunes : Track Price: 4.99, Track Rental Price: 3.99, Collection Price: 4.99, Track Hd Price: 4.99, Track Hd Rental Price: 3.99, Collection Hd Price: 4.99

3. Vudu : [SD - Buy: 4.99, Rent: 2.99] [HDX - Buy: 4.99, Rent: 3.99]