Let me begin by staing that Neil Simon's New York-Jewish humor is right down the rue of this English goy and I've seen a good ninety-five per cent of everything he's written on both stage and screen including Original Screenplays like The Out Of Towners. I also saw Lost In Yonkers in England though alas, Maureen Lipman was a pathetic substitute for Mercedes Ruehl who deserved ten Best Actress Oscars let alone being disgracefully overlooked. The early Simon - Come Blow Your Horn, Barefoot In The Park - was almost pure comedy, one one-liner after another but around the time of Chapter Two, with a major tragedy in his own life, he began injecting much more drama into his work and Lost In Yonkers a supreme example of comedy drama. Mercedes Ruehl is beyond brilliance while Irene Worth is merely brilliant and with class acts like this Louie could have been played by Jonathan Winters and still not spoiled it. A great, great movie.
Review of Lost in Yonkers
