Clearly "dated" movie but with some great acting, and very memorable lines. Jason Robards is excellent as the live-wire slacker Murray and most of the other actors are great too. William Daniels is quite good as the stuffy-but-smart Albert, and Gene Saks is terrific as the incredibly annoying children's show host "Chuckles".
The film was released in 1965 when American culture seemed to be just starting to turn from "striving to conform" (or "conforming to strive") to do-your-own-thing don't-be-a-zombie-stiff independent thinking. If the film had been made 6-7 years later (after all the turmoil of the late 60's, after M*A*S*H, etc.) people might have said "this stuff, again?". But in its day, this film was in the vanguard of questioning conformity.
While Murray is a very appealing character, it's frustrating to see how he deals with life, especially given his obvious talent. The script seems to see him as a victim of society, having his joy of life being sapped by those mean old conformists - simply so he can raise his nephew who has essentially become his son. In reality, Murray needs to be saved from himself, and if he had truly achieved his dream of doing nothing, he would eventually regret it. Unfortunately the movie does not truly make that point, turning "slacker" Murray into some kind of hero instead of a talented but misguided clown.
Albert (William Daniels) is presented as the ultimate stuffed shirt and seemingly an opponent of fun, yet Albert is actually a thoughtful guy who doesn't want to see Murray's nephew Nick become a life-waster like Murray. Albert even states to Murray that Murray sees Albert as the enemy (which Murray does), but clearly Albert is not the enemy. The real enemy is Murray, of himself, and of others who might come under his influence.
Clearly Murray is a smart man, he's articulate, he has a great memory for details, he uses complex words appropriately, and he's very funny. He's a slightly toned down version of the manic characters later played by Robin Williams. Yes Murray's talent is wasted, partly on his rants at his neighbors that very few of them will hear, partly on avoiding any work even if it pays well and does use his talent.
While it's understandable why Murray would get sick of writing for "Chuckles the Chipmunk", it's ridiculous that he would turn down a couple other job offers that we see. One of the jobs sounds perfect for Murray, he can just be himself on a tv panel, he can say whatever he thinks of spontaneously, his version of honesty. The producer says "you can be your nutsy self", and maybe Murray doesn't like being called nutsy, but so what? The point was that the producer liked Murray as he is, and was willing to pay him for it, yet Murray turned it down. The other job didn't sound bad too, maybe overly ambitious to have a Chekhovian styled murder mystery show, but again this sounds like something Murray could do and enjoy. Again, he turns it down. Apparently no job is perfect enough for Murray.
Murray also rails against list-making, and rails against people sounding as if they'd written something before they said it. No one really pushes back against this, to say that list-making allows you to do MORE of what you want to do, rather than being stifled by it. No one pushes back to say that speaking clearly, with thought behind it, is much clearer communication than a spontaneous "ummm, you know what I mean?".
Then there's the character of Sandy, who falls under Murray's spell. Yes this is something of a comedy, and a play, but she's completely unrealistic unless she's meant to be a highly manic-depressive and borderline crazy person. Sandy has a PhD, suggesting that she's smart and diligent. Yet after a few hours with slacker Murray, she just wants to be with him for the rest of her life.
Again, this is a great movie for a lot of reasons. There are a few slow patches where nothing happens other than a ride on a bicycle, but mostly it moves along. The biggest problem is that a viewer might fall under Murray's spell, rather than being critical of how he's wasting his talent and his life.
Even Nick seems to recognize that Murray has been wasting his own life. Nick has been good for Murray, but only accidently came into Murray's life. Murray's life without Nick would have been even emptier than it was, and yet Murray almost let's Nick get taken away, because Murray is so committed to not working.
The ending is especially frustrating, as Murray goes back to the worst possible job he could have - working for Chuckles the Chipmunk. He didn't have to settle for Chuckles; he had better offers. We're supposed to believe that because Murray is headed to work for Chuckles, he's forgotten his own spontaneous humor. It's almost like we are watching the death of Murray, at least the death of "fun Murray".
A better ending might have been if Murray had a Scrooge-like genuine change of heart, and realized that he could enjoy life AND get paid for working. And that he could be organized yet also have a great spontaneous sense of humor and fun. Yet the movie ends with Murray remaining of the same character, but now "defeated" by circumstances. Even though he now has Nick and presumably Sandy remaining in his life, but he doesn't seem to focus on those happy circumstances. Bottom line, be entertained, but don't be Murray!
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