I remember seeing this movie when it first came out, and it always stuck with me. I rewatched it last night for the first time in decades, and I think my first impression as a teen is still pretty much my impression now. Charles Grodin plays a totally selfish person, Lenny Cantrow, who - unlike most of us - acts on every selfish impulse. He tries to kid himself into thinking he is a good unselfish person by giving his cast-off first wife all of the wedding presents and his car when the gash he's given her self esteem - telling her he wants a divorce after less than one week into a marriage and honeymoon, most of which he has spent with a Minnesota beauty on vacation (Cybil Shepherd as Kelly Corcoran) - is something that will likely never heal. Being older and a stepparent myself now, I could really relate to Eddie Albert's character, Kelly's father. He can smell Lenny's loopiness from a mile away, but how do you protect an adult daughter from a terrible fate - getting hooked up with someone like Grodin's character - that only time and wisdom can teach you to avoid. She doesn't have that wisdom yet.
I always thought the second wedding scene sharing so many similarities with the first is basically saying that Lenny is going to go through life ruining other people's lives because he wants what he wants when he wants it, and worse, he will always convince himself he is not a bad guy when he walks all over people to get what he wants. Also you see just a smidgen of regret in his face after the ceremony as he talks in circles about his career plans to any wedding guest that will listen, suggesting that perhaps catching Kelly is not as satisfying as chasing her all of these months has been.
Finally, I just have to tip my hat to director Elaine May. Somehow, in both 1971's "A New Leaf" and this film, she really knows how to make a female character annoying right down to the tone of voice and physical movements. She did it with her own character in A New Leaf and then did it with her own daughter, Jeannie Berlin, in this film as Lenny's first wife, Lila. Highly recommended.
I always thought the second wedding scene sharing so many similarities with the first is basically saying that Lenny is going to go through life ruining other people's lives because he wants what he wants when he wants it, and worse, he will always convince himself he is not a bad guy when he walks all over people to get what he wants. Also you see just a smidgen of regret in his face after the ceremony as he talks in circles about his career plans to any wedding guest that will listen, suggesting that perhaps catching Kelly is not as satisfying as chasing her all of these months has been.
Finally, I just have to tip my hat to director Elaine May. Somehow, in both 1971's "A New Leaf" and this film, she really knows how to make a female character annoying right down to the tone of voice and physical movements. She did it with her own character in A New Leaf and then did it with her own daughter, Jeannie Berlin, in this film as Lenny's first wife, Lila. Highly recommended.