WHAT A WAY TO GO! was a glittering all-star comedy that IMO never really got the acclaim it deserved. A true classic that is still watchable and still makes me laugh, over 40 years after it's original release. This comic gem stars Shirley MacLaine as Louisa Foster, a wealthy widow who we see at the beginning of the movie trying to give the IRS a check for $40,000,000. Louisa is then seen at the office of the psychiatrist (Robert Cummings)who she has been sent to after trying to give money to the IRS she didn't owe. We then learn through flashbacks Louisa's story...a simple girl who believes she is cursed because even though all she wanted was love and marriage, every time she met a man she loved and married him, he became wealthy, died, and left her all the money. Dean Martin appears as the small town playboy from Louisa's hometown who she always fended off. Dick Van Dyke plays her first husband, a general store owner whose ambition turns his store into a billion dollar franchise. Paul Newman, very amusing in a rare comedic turn, plays husband #2, an eccentric artist. Robert Mitchum is husband #3, who Louisa thinks is safe because he was rich when they met, and Gene Kelly is on target as husband #4, a struggling nightclub performer who overnight becomes an international movie star. MacLaine gives an energetic performance, draped in stunning Edith Head costumes (which should have won an Oscar)and is given solid support from all her leading men, especially Newman and Kelly, who shine in roles where they are definitely cast against type. A riotous and entertaining comic fantasy that holds interest until the final frame. An underrated classic that is all but forgotten these days.
Review of What a Way to Go!
