Thoughts on Phffft

     On Criterion, I watched the 1954 romantic comedy Phffft, written by George Axelrod (playwright of The Seven Year Itch, screenplays for Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Manchurian Candidate) directed by Mark Robson (Peyton Place, Valley of the Dolls) starring Jack Lemmon and Judy Holliday as a divorcing couple, Robert and Nina Tracey, who are splitting after eight years together and frequent bicker with each other. Robert moves out to stay with his Navy buddy Charlie Nelson (Jack Carson), while Nina looks to her interfering mother for guidance, who blames Robert for the breakup.

    The two are trying to move on from each other, with dating others, with Robert dating the Marilyn Monroe-esque Janis (Kim Novak in an early role, and with whom Jack Lemmon would appear in Bell, Book, and Candle in 1958), and Nina seeing other men, including Charlie. But when they find themselves with their dates at the same nightclub, dancing the mambo together in a comical way, after they had both taken dance lessons on their own, and trying to one-up each other on the dance floor, it's obvious that the love and chemistry isn't gone between Robert and Nina.

    I really liked this movie. Judy Holliday had this really sparkling, modern quality to her comedy that made me think of later comic actresses like Madeleine Kahn, being bright and funny and charismatic. Like in a scene where she's trying to learn French and having trouble with pronunciation, and her instructor calls her out on only trying something new after her divorce, like many others who use their divorces as a catalyst for a new hobby.

    And Jack Lemmon had this boyish cuteness early on, looking like an average everyman, and was very expressive in his face, like when he's trying to seduce Janis while she's unaware of his intentions, telling the story on his face like a theater actor. This was the second of Lemmon and Holliday's films together that same year, the first being It Should Happen to You.

    The title, which feels hard to say casually and more of a wordless expression, came from Walter Winchell's column, which would describe a celebrity couple's marriage breakup as "phffft," like a balloon deflating.

    It's a fun and light comedy, carried by Lemmon and Holliday's comic talents, and I recommend it as a sweet romantic comedy of the 1950s.