Review of They All Laughed (1981) by Dave S — 15 Aug 2010

Turns easygoing simplicity into a mundane affectation. In a way this is Bogdanovich's version of a Woody Allen romance-and-infidelity NY comedy, told in reverence for the Hollywood Golden Age. The dialogue tries to pass off a lot of sub-par shmoozing as poetry, which is a major step below the achievements of Saint Jack. If this movie is accurate, it was never more easy than in NYC c. 1981 to make instant friends, to "meet someone" on a given afternoon and to run into them the next day on the sidewalk.

Characters are supposed to be preternaturally cool or elegant and every man is a smoothy or a klutzy charmer. The movie is not so much in love with women as it is in love with different types of dapperness in men and with lustfully pining for Dorothy Stratton. But there's a lot of treasure here for people who love movies, in the shots and the performances and a witty end credit sequence.

All the women are good, even Colleen Camp after you get over her being directed to deliver lines like a typewriter. John Ritter, doing Bogdonavich, may be at his best. Blaine Novack is quite a character; Patti Hansen is the cab driver of every boy's dreams; and Dorothy Stratten can look like a genuine star and chew gum at the same time.