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List Price: $9.95 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 21103
Released: January 2, 2002 |
| Our Price: $4.36 |
| Used Price: $3.24 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Four separate stories brought into one, the various occupants of the suite in the Beverly Hills Hotel reveal parts of their lives. Non-stop dialogue and comedy action.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 7-DEC-2004
Media Type: DVD
Description of Neil Simon's California Suite:
The West Coast answer to Neil Simon's Plaza Suite, this film (written by Simon and directed by Herbert Ross) has a high Hollywood gloss. Instead of the omnibus form of the film of the New York version, this film (set at the Beverly Hills Hotel) intertwines the stories (à la Grand Hotel) of several different sets of guests, including Alan Alda and Jane Fonda and Walter Matthau and Elaine May, on one particularly eventful weekend. The story that works best involves Maggie Smith and Michael Caine as an Oscar-nominated actress and her straying, gay husband who come to an understanding (Smith won the Oscar for this film). The least effective is a slapsticky battle between well-to-do but competitive doctors played by Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor. --Marshall Fine
Neil Simon's California Suite Reviews:
NEIL SIMON COMEDY 
2008-11-28 - Neil Simon's California Suite
FOUR LIGHTWEIGHT PLAYLETS BY NEIL SIMON ALL SET IN THE BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL IN LOS ANGELES. ALAN ALDA, JANE FONDA, WALTER MATTHAU, RICHARD PRYOR, ARE AMONG THOSE WHO INDULGE IN SIMON'S FUN AND GAME ALTHOUGH IT IS MAGGIE SMITH, AS AN ENGLISH STAGE ACTRESS NOMINATED FOR AN ACADEMY AWARD, AND MICHAEL CAINE AS HER HUSBAND, WHO CONTRIBUTE TO THE SHARPEST AND MOST HUMOROUS SKETCH. A COLUMBIA PICTURE, DIRECTED BY HERBERT ROSS, WITH ALAN ALDA, MICHAEL CAINE, BILL COSBY, JANE FONDA, WALTER MATTHAU, ELAINE MAY, RICHARD PRYOR, MAGGIE SMITH. COLOUR. 103 mins.
NOTE: Maggie Smith's Award made her the third actress to win in both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories. She had previously won as Best Actress for THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE in 1969. See also HELEN HAYES and INGRID BERGMAN (Gaslight, Anastasia, Murder on the Orient Express).
A all star cast from the past.
2008-05-08 - The movie has 4 story lines of different ppl & stories but it's not hard to follow and there are some very funny parts in this movie. There are No X-Tras to watch which is a shame IMO. If you watch Real Close to the shots in Marvins/Walter M. part you can see the Mic./boom in the bedroom mirror,guess it passed editing & there looks like a rather Large camera on the dresser that's not used in the movie,mabey someone forgot to remove it?? The late Dana Plato has a tiny part in this movie as well.
Lukewarm comedy .... Zzzz Zzzz Zzzz 
2007-08-19 - Others touted the outrageous comedy theme of this film which prompted me to buy it. Boy, was I disappointed. Thank goodness I bought a used copy for only a few bucks, so the financial pain was minimal.
In brief, the film covers four independent filmettes featuring guests at the California hotel. I guess the best selection was the one featuring Alan Alda and Jane Fonda as divorcees fighting over custody of their teenage daughter. But "best" is a relative matter. This one figures a sharp-tongued professional woman taking snide shots at her ex-husband every chance she gets. Once in a while he responds, but for the most part he simply tolerates her air of superiority. (yawn)
The selection with Michael Caine and his film star wife started okay, but quickly drowned itself in an emotional stew over a lost award nomination (she won the nomination but not the award). Then we discover that Michael has more of an interest in the leading man than he does in his wife. Holy soap box, Batman!
I love most anything with talented actor Walter Matheau. But this was probably the least inspiring of his efforts that I have seen. The whole of the plot revolves around him trying to hide the "drunk into a coma" prostitute he had in his hotel room from his wife when she arrives the next morning. Walter should have just dumped sleeping beauty out a window and shortened this painful performance. Want to see Walter at his best? Watch "Hopscotch".
Lastly we come to Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor. A combo that can't miss, right? Well, this one misses - by a mile. If these guys are friends, I wonder what they call enemies. The whole scenette was one argument or fight after another. In real life, had they been friends, this hotel vacation would have finished that. The potential was there for some good comedy (it IS Bill and Richard), but the segment is as empty as last night's beer bottle.
Neil Simon is well known for his comic irony to real life situations. And I generally enjoy most of his work. However, I wouldn't be able to recognize this one as his except for the printing on the DVD cover. If you want to see some of his good work, try "Out to Sea", "The Out Of Towners", or "The Odd Couple".
Sorry, but I don't think I can recommend this one. The best part of the movie was when it ended. Good for one viewing only, then it will gather dust on the shelf.
~P~
All Talk And No Action! (Kinda Like My First High School Girlfriend!)
2006-11-10 - Believe it or not there was a time in recent Movie History that all the characters were self obsessed, neurotic and thought that "Talk Therapy" was the answer to what ails them and everybody thought that Neil Simon was a genius. This movie shows what Americans do best which is basically talk, talk and then talk some more. Alan Alda plays his usual macho self and Jane Fonda is her usual whining, nervous, nuerotic character which for some reason she plays so well. Walter Matthau wants to start all over again with a new woman (this time without the kids and the big mortgage one must assume) and if you like the cinematic equivalent of "Verbal Diarrhea" then this movie is for you. I give this movie 5 stars because I managed to catch up on some much needd sleep while it was on my TV.
Hilarious 'B' movie
2006-08-09 - I'm not even sure how many people have seen this film but it's one of the Cosby/Pryor great connections. Michael Caine was bi-sexual and married to an Oscar nominated actress; way ahead of its time.
