Tempos Felizes

Pop-singing duo (and mod-dressed lovebirds) Sonny & Cher are tapped to star in their own movie, but the couple are distressed over the corny script. Sonny Bono's soundtrack to "Good Times", which he produced and arranged (impeccably so), sounds like the very best of Phil Spector; the songs may give non-fans a glimpse at true musical genius. Unfortunately, all this aural greatness comes at the expense of a wayward, throw-away feature. Sonny & Cher spend most of their time on-screen bickering in a too-real example of marital discord. Debuting director William Friedkin stuffs the proceedings with eye-candy, but he can't get any momentum going in the fantasy scenes and they just peter out. It's a strenuous comedy, the biggest mistake of which was to plunk the leads down in the middle of so much unhappiness. They don't want to make the movie, they're being forced to make the movie, they fight about compromising their ideals about making the damn movie. Only the opening and closing montages are sunny, the rest is much too heavy--even with all that groovy music in the background. ** from ****

Best described at a "camp classic," this series of romps involves a singing duo called Sonny & Cher, played by a singing duo named Sonny & Cher. The film resembles episodes that later made up the "Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" of 1970s television. The pair spoofs three genres: western, jungle, and detective, so it's a movie starring themselves trying to figure out how to make a movie starring themselves, with the wonderful actor George Sanders as the bad guy. The costumes, the music by Sonny Bono, the songs sung by Cher, and the glimpses at the performances that Cher had yet to deliver make the movie worth watching. They save their famous hit "I Got You Babe" for the very end. My favorite piece of dialogue comes after Sonny says, "Shucks man, I can't sing" and Cher replies, "Don't let that stop you." It never did.

Cher plays 2nd banana to Sonny in this amiable collection of movie spoofs. At times pretty funny (the final Mickey Spillane bit is probably best), but sporadic and too cute.

Cher, of course, went on to be the reason people watched the Sonny & Cher show and then became an award-winning actress, but apparently the folks who made this movie failed to discern her talent.

It's honestly not that bad. Cheeky may be the closest I can come up with because Sonny and Cher play on their pop personas, dress to the nines in mod 60s style, and introduce what would be the skits that would make up the bulk of their variety show of the mid 70s.

There isn't much a plot to speak of, except that Sonny and Cher are asked to come up with a movie and Sonny fantasizes of the myriad ways he could reconfigure established genres and make them successful. Spoofs of note are the ones targeting THE MALTESE FALCON (film noir). Other genres made fun of are the Western and the adventure film. George Sanders plays up his stiff persona to play their boss Mr Mordicus and Sonny's heavy/villain in the skits. And yes, that's William Friedkin, some time before THE EXORCIST, making a cute little film that seems to have been aimed at the teeny-boppers, much like many of the teeny-bopper films promoting the likes of (insert teen idol here) in a fluffy movie about nothing spectacular.

I'm a 60's fan and a Cher fan and I still had trouble getting through this movie. It's a touch of The Sonny & Cher Show, a touch of Laugh-In, a touch of early MTV and a touch of early reality show. This description sounds better than it actually is. It is still fun to watch a young & beautiful Cher in some fab clothes and singing great. She is surprisingly natural in her straight scenes. Sonny plays his scenes like a skit from The Sonny & Cher show or a Carol Burnett sketch. George Saunders looks like he was aging well playing his Allison Dewitt character from All Abot Eve. He committed suicide not long after this movie with one of the most upsetting suicide notes ever written. Sad. I believe the house that they filmed this movie is Sonny & Cher's actual home that they bought from Tony Curtis and had to mortgage to finish this film. I'm still glad I watched the whole film but doubt if I ever will need to see it again.