Graham Harvey This is one of those classic films labelled by some as amazing. I find the film indulgent, slow & tedious & incredibly annoying. All that whining and complaining and nasty back & forward sparring. If you can't find enough of that in the world already, then watch the movie. But if you are looking for a movie that will lift your spirits and not stress you out, avoid at all costs. I can say that comedy has evolved a lot since this period. Another reviewer criticised the portrayal of African Americans- valid point. But basically it just has this juvenile quality about it, a bunch of spoilt western prats who should know better. Towards the last half hour I found myself using the fast forward button

jmillerdp Jane Fonda plays a full-on, complete bitch in this movie. Which makes sense, since she is in real life! Yes, her hatred of our soldiers and her siding with the vicious North Vietnamese has made it so my stomach completely turns just at the sight of her.But, Hollywood loves Fonda to death since she strongly reflects their "values," such as they are. Also, the film offers a "benefit" for Cosby haters. They will enjoy screaming at the TV whenever he appears! Alan Alda does his routine Alan Alda routine. Herb Edelman plays a seriously creepy, almost-borderline-pedophiliac guy in a track suit. Maggie Smith ironically plays an actress worrying about winning an Oscar, where she herself won an Oscar for being in this movie. Her performance is routine, but maybe 1978 was a slow year in her category.Having a jazz score is a good idea, but it's more maudlin smooth jazz that belongs on Muzak than in a movie. Everything else in the movie is routine.As with most of Neil Simon's work, there are few laughs. I only laughed during Walter Matthau's segment. And, that is because of Matthau being great, not because of Simon. The Pryor/Cosby segment is embarrassing, to put it mildly.This Ken Levine dude on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), here in the United States, introduced this and other Neil Simon movies this month. He was a writer on M*A*S*H, no not Robert Altman's classic, but the TV series that Altman absolutely hated! That this introducer guy considers Simon great shows what his "taste" in comedy is! Luckily, this film isn't as flat-out awful as "Come Blow Your Horn" the 1963 absolute misfire with Frank Sinatra and Tony Bill."California Suite" is un-entertaining from beginning to end. Watch it, if you like that kind of thing!*** (3 Out of 10 Stars)

preppy-3 Four separate stories (all written by Neil Simon)that take place at the Beverly Hills Hotel. There's brittle sarcastic Hannah Warren (Jane Fonda) meeting with her divorced husband Bill (Alan Alda) over custody of their child Jenny (a very young Dana Plato). As with most Simon scripts the one-liners fly fast and furious. Some of it is funny but Fonda's character is far too mean and Alda is obviously uneasy with the dialogue for it to work.Then there's Oscar-nominated actress Diana Barrie (Maggie Smith) and her bisexual husband Sidney Cochran (Michael Caine). She's agonizing over attending the Academy Awards and he tries to calm her. These two are very at ease with the comedy and drama and their story is easily the best in the film.Then there's Marvin Michael (Walter Matthau) there for a bar mitzvah. He arrives the night before his wife Millie (Elaine May) shows up. His brother sends a prostitute to his room--and she passes out and can't wake up before his wife arrives. Matthau is fun but May seems uneasy.The worst story is of two couples--Dr. Willis Panama (Bill Cosby) and his wife Bettina (Sheila Frazer) with Dr. Chauncey (Richard Pryor) with his wife Lola (Gloria Gifford). There story is basically non-stop unfunny and violent slapstick. Seeing two talented comedians like Pryor and Cosby fighting and biting each other isn't funny--just embarrassing. Even worse their wives are totally ignored! A real mixed bag here. The best joke comes from what happened after the movie. Smith won an Oscar for her acting here and her character in the movie didn't get the Oscar! Also why Smith got the award is beyond me. She's good but this is hardly an Oscar worthy performance. So, all in all, it's OK. I give it a 7.

dglink Despite a talented all-star cast, "California Suite," which was based on a hit Neil Simon play, is a wildly uneven film. The episodic story traces several unrelated couples from across the U.S. that check into a Beverly Hills hotel. Like a comedic "Grand Hotel," the film cuts between the stories, although the editing makes no comments, ironic or otherwise, between the episodes. Actually, the often foolish, self-centered characters make "California Suite" more a "Ship of Fools" in the sunshine than a "Grand Hotel" under the palms. The original play was a follow-up to the more successful "Plaza Suite" and demonstrated Simon's shakier take on the West Coast than on the East. For the most part, the hotel guests speak and behave like the transplanted or visiting New Yorkers that they are.Jane Fonda portrays the ultimate New York snob, and her bitchy banter with ex-husband Alan Alda only underscores her arrogance and intolerance of anything that exists west of the Hudson. Alda is a New Yorker's stereotype of a Californian with pastel sweaters and perpetual tan. While a few amusing lines pass between the terminally mismatched couple, Fonda and Alda's episode is more grating than funny. However, the New York couple display Noel-Coward wit in comparison to the wasted talents and misfires in the scenes that involve Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby as vacationing doctors. The premise of two couples that arrive to find a reservation for only one has promise. However, director Herbert Ross should have studied Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd before he devised the broad, unfunny physical stunts that will leave viewers grateful that both Pryor and Cosby survived the mess and moved on to better material.However, the film does have some fine moments between comedic experts Walter Matthau and Elaine May. When Matthau arrives in LA a day early, his brother surprises him with a prostitute, who passes out from too much tequila and cannot be awakened in the morning. Of course, Matthau's wife, the always-delicious Elaine May, arrives, and the comedy moves into high gear. The best episode in the film, however, involves an English actress, Maggie Smith, and her bisexual husband, Michael Caine. The couple arrives to attend the Academy Awards, because Smith is a Best Actress nominee. While Smith has some of the best-written lines in the film, her role also has a depth and poignancy that goes far beyond the cardboard characters in the other episodes. Although Caine is equally fine, Smith's role is showier, and she won a deserved Academy Award for the part. The film's special irony is that the part of an Oscar-losing-actress won an Oscar for the actress who played her."California Suite" is one of those films in which a few superior scenes make it worthy entertainment, and the Smith-Caine episode pulls the film several notches higher than it otherwise deserves. Add the sparkling Matthau-May scenes, and there is at least one-half of a good movie. Although the Fonda-Alda episode is bearable and occasionally amusing, the Pryor-Cosby scenes are often labored and unfunny. However, with a strong finger on the fast-forward button, there is a good hour of comedy and fine performances to be had in this inconsistent film.