Ryan O'Neal may be remembered nowadays for his personal travails, but it is hard to find a more dedicated actor. He may not have been the most gifted actor, but he was the male Barbara Stanwyck. Neal totally throws himself in as a square, nerdy, introvert, who is afraid to defy any rules. With this flaw, he ends up being engaged to a shrewish domineering woman (Madeline Kahn). While with his fiancée, attending a convention in San Francisco, in the hopes of winning a science grant from a Professor Larabee (You'll recognize him as later playing the bumbling, stuttering lawyer in "My Cousin Vinny"), he ends up in a series of misadventures.
First, Barbra Streisand plays a woman smitten with him, and determined to wrest him from his fiancée. Streisand is a good comedian when it comes to playing quirky characters (as witnessed in "Meet The Fockers"). She plays a woman who drifts around from college to college, always dropping off, and obviously fitting the bill of the quirky Californian. She gets Howard (O'Neal) involved in a lot of hot water. First, there is the "cold war spy spoof" in the plot. A bunch of misfit spies (including the actor who would become the future "Boss Hog") want to get ahold of the items in his plaid suitcase (allegedly valuable igneous rocks). However, everyone else on his floor of the hotel has the exact same suitcase. One contains top secret plans. Another contains a ballerina outfit for an elderly lady. And another contains stolen jewels.
The rest of the movie is a slapstick comedy based upon Streisand's character trying to steal Howard from his bride, and the misfits trying to steal the various prized items in the plaid suitcases. The best thing about this film was that nothing really mattered. It was all about the silliness of life and how in the end things turn out differently. In this case, Howard finds a new lover.
First, Barbra Streisand plays a woman smitten with him, and determined to wrest him from his fiancée. Streisand is a good comedian when it comes to playing quirky characters (as witnessed in "Meet The Fockers"). She plays a woman who drifts around from college to college, always dropping off, and obviously fitting the bill of the quirky Californian. She gets Howard (O'Neal) involved in a lot of hot water. First, there is the "cold war spy spoof" in the plot. A bunch of misfit spies (including the actor who would become the future "Boss Hog") want to get ahold of the items in his plaid suitcase (allegedly valuable igneous rocks). However, everyone else on his floor of the hotel has the exact same suitcase. One contains top secret plans. Another contains a ballerina outfit for an elderly lady. And another contains stolen jewels.
The rest of the movie is a slapstick comedy based upon Streisand's character trying to steal Howard from his bride, and the misfits trying to steal the various prized items in the plaid suitcases. The best thing about this film was that nothing really mattered. It was all about the silliness of life and how in the end things turn out differently. In this case, Howard finds a new lover.