Tanya’s Score: Good*
Rated: PG-13
Starring: a grumpy old Lemmon, a fresh-faced magnolia
Plot: Hoping to be promoted within his insurance firm, a working stiff (Jack Lemmon) lets the senior executives use his apartment for extra-marital trysts. But things become complicated when he falls in love.
Tanya’s Verdict: My middle daughter summed The Apartment up quite succinctly: “It’s long and old-fashioned but I can see why it was considered a great movie for its time.”
If you can get past the fact that it’s black and white (that never bothers me) and that the acting is over-the-top (which is pretty standard for 1960s movies), it’s a decent film. The storyline is unconventional, the characters are interesting, and there is no denying the chemistry between Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. There’s an important lesson to be imparted as well – if a person allows themselves to be taken advantage of, then they will be.
It runs a bit long and it definitely shows its age – especially concerning the way women are portrayed. Still, MacLaine has a line in the movie that I thought illustrated her character eloquently. When Lemmon’s C.C. Baxter comments on the fact that her compact mirror is cracked, she replies: “I like it like that. It makes me look the way I feel.”
*Four score descriptions: Sh**; Okay; Good; Great