the americanization of emily

Somewhere lurking in turgid love scenes and crass overacting is the potential for a good film. The Americanization of Emily has all of the makings of a dark comedy, rife with sharp commentary on the darker political motivations of wartime. The acting is also promising as Melvyn Douglas and a drunk Keenan Wynn turn in great performances. But the success of a dark comedy does not lie in it's script, it's ideas or it's acting. It relies on it's tone. And if ever there was an exercise in a poor director ruining every element of a film, Americanization... is it.

Arthur Hiller, the film's "director" so consistently picks the wrong tone for each and every scene that it is painful to watch. Scenes that should be played straight have broad overreacting, sympathetic scenes are played with bizarre melodrama, darkly sinister scenes are played with slapstick. It is almost as if the studio told Hiller that he would be directing a dark comedy and the only word he heard was 'comedy.'

Word is that comedy genius Blake Edwards was originally slated to direct, but wanted to make a few changes to Paddy Chayefsky's script. The producers would hear none of it and got schmuck Hiller to do it instead. The sad thing is that the script does need some trimming. The monologues are so contrived and self-absorbed that they threaten to derail the situation-based potency of the story. But the real tragedy is that Edwards knew about understatement and tone and most likely would have turned this film into a true dark comedy.