MartinHafer When you talk to many people about Jerry Lewis and his films, you often get extreme reactions. Some think he's a genius--one of the greatest film comics of all time. This is apparently true in much of the world outside the United States. Others think his films are terrible and would never watch them. Well, me being a compulsive nut about films, in the last couple years I have sought out his films and have seen most of them (a few, such as "The Day the Clown Cried" are not available). And, overall, I have come to feel that you cannot call his films good or bad--some are exceptional and some are terrible. This is true of most filmmakers and comics. So, when I say bad things about "Cinderfella", understand I am NOT anti-Lewis--I just think this film in particular is very, very weak. Why? Well, three main reasons sink this film--which I'll talk about below."Cinderfella" is a reworking of the traditional Cinderella story with a few big changes. Instead of women, it's a guy's story--with wicked step-brothers, a male protagonist and a fairy godFATHER. Another is that it's set in the present day--so you'll see cars, mansions in Beverly Hills and the like.The film finds Jerry playing a person named 'Fella' (??). He lives with his nasty step-mother and step-brothers in a fancy mansion. Apparently, somewhere on the property some fortune is hidden--but no one knows where it is. In an odd (actually, BIZARRE) twist, Fella's dead father talks to him in dreams and tries to tell him where the money is hidden. This part of the story, to me, wasn't entirely necessary. Anyway, the rest is a lot like the original story--with a Ball, Fella working like a slave in his home and the rest.So why was I less than thrilled with the film? The biggest problem was the singing. While Lewis' singing isn't bad, and occasionally pretty good in some films, here it is rather poor--and he does it many, many times. One song might have worked, but for a non-singer, four is too many and each time he sang, the film ground to a halt. Second, and it is also a biggie, is that the film just wasn't funny. Too few of the jokes worked and, frankly, there just weren't that many attempts at laughs. In contrast, in "The Bellboy" (which I really liked), the jokes came so rapidly that even if they didn't work each time, you kept laughing. Here, there were fewer attempts and too many serious moments. Finally, in too many scenes, the director (not Lewis in this case) overdid the scenes. For example, Jerry doesn't just comb his hair like a normal guy, he had to comb it 'wacky'--and took too long combing his hair! And, as Fella did his household chores, each time it was so overdone and overlong that it strained my nerves. Overall, a clear misfire and among Lewis' weakest films. Not terrible--just not all that good.

Dave from Ottawa The Jerry Lewis (solo) movie formula was a rather awkward mix of sticky romantic sentiment and wildly elaborate and catastrophic comic ballets and I have often wondered who Jerry himself thought was his target audience. His anarchic, destructive comedy seems aimed straight at 12 year old boys who would be little interested in icky girls, yet there was always a central romantic subplot. And the date crowd would have found his romantic chemistry with his female co-stars lacking and the overall atmosphere rather contrived and juvenile. Anyway, here Jerry does a spin on Cinderella, with Ed Wynn as his Fairy Godfather who uses wizardry to put the bungling Jerry in the path of a European princess. We all know how the story ends, but the difference here is that along the way, the princess has to wade through a succession of truly destructive comic disasters. I wondered why she stuck around with this guy all the way to the end. Any well-bred woman of her class would have gone to take a rest in Monte Carlo after the first one. Yet, contrived and formulaic as it is, the movie manages to still entertain almost 50 years later, largely on the strength of Jerry's comic and cinematic inventiveness. He was a master at staging destructive comedy sequences with few rivals at this. There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

nimmiragavan I used to love Jerry Lewis, and Cinderfella was a favourite.Dean Martin used to get in the way I always thought with a lot of soppy songs!(I must warn you I also like Police Academy (my partner cant believe this) so have a taste for slapstick.)But from memory, I used to think Jerry had fantastic timing to a lot of his routines so you were on the edge of your seat while laughing as well. This has made me think I must get the DVD and have another look at it to see if it is still as magical.

Lee Eisenberg With so many versions of the quintessential fairy tale, we forget which is which. This one casts Jerry Lewis as an abused young man whose life changes when he meets his Fairy Godfather (Ed Wynn). Personally, my favorite rendition of the story was the time on "Gilligan's Island" when Mrs. Howell dreamed that she was Cinderella and Gilligan was her Fairy Godfather.Jerry Lewis does an OK job in "Cinderfella", but now that we know what a jerk he is in real life, it weakens the whole thing. And I don't know why they have to stock it with songs.Weird to think that Fairy Godfather is the father of "Dr. Strangelove"'s Gen. Bat Guano.