The Woman in Red

Cinematic funnyman Gene Wilder's third film as a director, The Woman in Red combines farcical elements with saucy frills and short shots of straight drama. Teddy Pierce (Wilder), a “director of information” at a San Francisco ad agency, spies the titular knockout (Kelly LeBrock) in her crimson dress one day in the parking garage and becomes instantly smitten. Despite the fact that he's “happily” married to a supportive wife (Judith Ivey) and is the father of two girls, Teddy can't help but reach out to the model, but unbeknownst to him his amorous phone call is received by another woman in his office, Ms. Milner (Gilda Radner). The universe seems to be out to best Teddy at every turn and deter him from his path: his pal Joey (Joseph Bologna) has been abandoned by his wife after she caught on to his womanizing ways, Teddy's attempts to make his date with the model—in actuality Ms. Milner—are constantly foiled by familial obligations and his own inherent guilt, and even after Teddy has formally introduced himself to the model and asked her out for dinner, their plans to rendezvous are further hampered by one surprising revelation after another. Wilder's script, an adaptation of the French film Pardon Mon Affaire (1976), constructs a duplicitous universe where just about everyone is engaged in some form of infidelity, amusingly supporting the notion that the heart is a fickle beast. Although somewhat hampered by a subpar Stevie Wonder soundtrack, this remains a reasonably entertaining film. A strong optional purchase. (J. Cruz)