It was no big surprise that within the next few scenes he's sobbing in a psychiatrist's office. At this point, I needed to take a very deep breath to brace myself, because it was very obvious that this guy has issues and this movie was going to be full of hilariously painful situations for our hero. They introduce themselves and share their disappointment in Zach. As it turns out, this woman is not Zach's wife, but his mistress, and she is ready to kill him until his wife walks in. The scene that follows is hilarious the music has stopped and we're thrust into a tense but funny moment. She catches him fooling around with a young blonde and grabs Zach's revolver. The house belongs to Zach Hutton, and the woman, we assume, is Zach's wife. MPAA-rated: R (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian).Skin Deep starts off to a soulful, bluesy song called "falling out of love" (lyrically quite fitting for the main character), and we see a woman walking into a house. With John Ritter, Vincent Gardenia, Alyson Reed, Joel Brooks, Julianne Phillips, Chelsea Field, Peter Donat, Don Gordon, Nina Foch, Denise Crosby, Michael Kidd, Dee Dee Rescher, Bryan Genesse, Bo Foxworth, Raye Hollit, Sol Vang Tanney. 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator Joe Dunne. Perhaps the next time will rate a “10.”Ī 20th Century Fox release of a Morgan Creek presentation of a BECO production. (This admittedly may not be true for some women in the audience NOW is unlikely to choose the film for a benefit premiere.) Ritter and Edwards clearly have a strong rapport and plan to work together again. It’s chilling to imagine “Skin Deep” (rated R for sex and language, adult situations) without Ritter, who through sheer dint of his own likability, never quite loses our sympathy for Zach. In short, “Skin Deep” is a male sex fantasy that says that if you’re sufficiently rich, famous and good-looking, you can go into the most self-destructive of tailspins and still land on your feet without any real effort. (That his wife would even consider taking him back after his progressively outrageous behavior is also confounding.) Then in his turnaround, we’re given the impression that stopping drinking and turning out a best seller are snaps for Zach. For all his charm, honesty and intelligence-you have no trouble understanding his appeal to a wide variety of women-Zach does nothing to help himself as he gives in to epic self-indulgence. Never has a happy ending been so thoroughly unearned. It’s as if Edwards said to himself: “The poor guy has suffered long enough, and, besides, we’re running out of time.” There’s real sweetness and humor in Raye Hollit’s body builder, and once again Edwards proves himself one of the few American film makers able, or willing, to present a gay couple (in this instance played distinctively by Peter Donat and Don Gordon) without a fuss.Īs adept as Edwards is at using humor to set off Zach’s self-destructiveness, to capture the dark undertow of high living, he ends up letting Zach off the hook shamelessly. The glamour girls, with their great sheafs of shining hair, are interchangeable, but there are nice turns by Vincent Gardenia as Zach’s barkeep pal and by Nina Foch as his chic mother-in-law, perhaps the only woman in the world who has never been charmed by him. “Skin Deep” is a film of moments, some of which are terrific, others considerably less so. Already plagued by writer’s block, he gives in to compulsive womanizing, followed by incipient alcoholism and eventual impotence. From then on it’s a downhill slide for Zach. The film opens with a hilarious double whammy that starts Zach spinning out of control even before the laughter starts fading. You have the feeling that this is a man who hasn’t stepped outside Beverly Hills, Brentwood and Malibu for year, except possibly to escape to other equally luxe locales by the end of the film you’re left feeling that this may be true of Edwards as well. He lives the Southern California life style at its most sybaritic. He has a bright, attractive wife (crisply played by Alyson Reed), who’s a TV newscaster, a profession that in the movies defines the successful contemporary woman. He’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, a novelist and screenwriter. Blake Edwards’ “Skin Deep” (citywide) has a couple of the funniest moments Edwards ever devised it has John Ritter’s easy-to-take charm, but it ends up living up to its title far too closely.
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