Jerry Lewis was a celebrated comedian known for his slapstick humor and over the top performances. He rose to stardom with his partner Dean Martin until eventually they both parted ways and continued to have extremely successful solo careers. Starting as a stage comic, he quickly moved to film and made over 60 movies from 1949 to 2016. This collection includes 10 of his most memorable performances and over 90 minutes of bloopers and deleted scenes.
This collection was my first exposure to comedy legend Jerry Lewis’ work and I had only heard about him from his notoriety as a, let’s say “difficult,” interviewee. As a huge fan of comedy, I was very excited to watch these films and partake in comedy history. Unfortunately, I was severely disappointed.
I began with The Bellboy which was touted as Jerry Lewis’ most iconic role (he even plays himself at one point). The intro is a disclaimer that states that the movie you are about to watch has no plot and is entirely about a bellboy who finds himself in zany circumstances and is “really funny.” Only half of that disclaimer was true. The film contained mostly physical comedy as it was modeled after the silent films of the previous generation. It was segmented into small skits that had nothing to do with the previous besides the aloof main character Stanley, a supposed mute bellboy. Each skit felt like it was all setup and no payoff. I would find myself watching a 5-minute segment with one long wind up and then nothing funny happening at the end to make the segment worthwhile. A lot of the jokes were just “look at how goofy Stanley is, look at the funny face he is making, isn’t that weird.” I felt like maybe I am just in a different generation and we think different things are funnier. But then I thought back to other silent classics like Modern Times and City Lights by Charlie Chaplin that got slapstick and situational humor right and was absolutely hilarious. Something about The Bellboy just didn’t capture that essence and a lot of the comedy fell flat.
Then I watched The Nutty Professor which I felt also did not age well. Professor Kelp was a stereotypical “nerd” who can’t stand up for himself and is constantly making mistakes, so he decides to make a potion that will make him a handsome, suave, smooth-talker. Instead, he makes a potion that turns him into a massive condescending, arrogant, misogynistic douche, but for some reason, Stella Purdy (the love interest) is still smitten by him. At one point he gets her up to the make out overlook that is so prevalent in these kinds of films, against her wishes and asks her to wipe off her lipstick and scoot closer to her. She begins to monologue about how she’s not that kind of girl and his response is “I said wipe that lipstick off and scoot over next to me.” Literally as creepy as it gets, yet by the end of the scene she is completely won over by him and shown not to be able to pay attention in class because she is captivated by this “mysterious man.” I would love to see someone try to put something like that in a movie today and see how that turns out. Pair all of this with awkward scene timing, a forgettable soundtrack, and a loose moral to the story and It makes for a pretty unbearable movie.
If you love Jerry Lewis, you will love this reboxing of a previous collection released in 2009. It contains all of his top hits (minus Who’s Minding the Store apparently) and some great special features if you haven’t gotten enough of him. If you have never seen a Jerry Lewis film before, I would recommend watching a couple before buying the full box set to see if he’s your cup of tea.
