Neil Simon wrote some of the greatest plays to ever be performed on the American stage, and Gene Saks managed to direct a few of them into equally well-received film adaptations, with these stories being sensations both on stage and film. The Last of the Red Hot Lovers is not one of them, forming the final entry into a loose trilogy of theatrical films directed by Saks, based on the esteemed playwright’s cherished works, which would only be rekindled one more time, nearly two decades later with The Brighton Beach Story. Unlike Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple (the two predecessors to this one, and some of the most successful comedies of their era), this film lacks a considerable amount of heart – but rather than being a botched adaptation, it is instead quite faithful, struggling with material that is already quite middling, if only just moderately well-received. It’s not the most effective comedy of its era, nor is it one that is particularly special in any discernible way – but it does have its genuine moments of charm, and the director (along with a gifted cast) manages to elevate the material just far enough off the ground to be marginally successful, if not as a comedy, as a stark social satire on the nature of human curiosity and the desire to abandon one’s routine once it becomes too stifling. It’s a strange and disquieting comedy that may not always elicit laughs, but it is quite interesting in other areas, which makes up for the uneven storytelling that often threatens to consume the entire film, robbing it of what little potential existed in the first place.

Based on a cursory glance, you’d expect The Last of the Red Hot Lovers to be a film about romance – this is certainly the starting point for the story, especially since Simon was someone who often used it as a frequent theme in his works, whether as the main propellant for the story, or as the fodder for one of the many hilarious situations in his more cynical comedies. For some peculiar reason, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers tries to be both – it takes a heightened approach to looking at romance, but at the expense of the more genuine qualities that come in the works that centre on the concept. Instead, we start to discover that Simon isn’t actually invested in looking at romance so much as he is the absence of it – centring the story on possibly the most bitter and jaded “happily married” man in existence, we see the narrative weave between different moments in the life of someone who has lost all passion for his wife, and instead seeks the tender touch of another woman – at first, he is very particular, waiting for the right person which whom he can successfully and momentarily engage in an extramarital affair. This comes to an end when he starts to realize that he is far from desirable, and will leap into bed with absolutely anyone (except for his wife, naturally), granted they’re not a complete loon – and this is precisely where most of the comedy comes in. The Last of the Red Hot Lovers is a much more misanthropic comedy than we’d expect, especially from Simon, whose work may not be afraid of presenting his protagonists as unlikable, but has rarely had someone as immoral as Barney Cashman in the central part. Simon and Saks actually seem to despise their main character, and that is reflected in nearly every scene, since there isn’t a moment where Barney manages to even come close to success – and while this might be funny, it can veer towards mean-spirited at times, which causes the entire film to feel like a bit of a failed experiment in creative antagonism.

Credit must be given to Alan Arkin for agreeing to play such a despicable character. Logically, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers should be a highly-coveted role for any actor, since it requires someone who can play multiple layers of the character, and show off their skills as a performer. Arkin is certainly very versatile, and has shown himself to be an actor who contains multitudes – but unfortunately, he struggles with a character who is as opaque and unoriginal as Barney Cashman. Supposed to represent the internalized malaise of all middle-aged suburban men, he’s a character that technically should be very interesting, but he’s just so poorly written, with motivations that don’t always make much sense, and regardless of how much Arkin tries, he perpetually falls victim to the same cliched techniques, and considering he is the lead of the film, it feels somewhat a waste of good talent. The Last of the Red Hot Lovers does have one genuinely great performance in the form of Sally Kellerman, who is the first of the three prospective mistresses of the protagonist, and by far the most interesting character. She is the only one who seems to fit into this world – her caustic wit and ability to play the character as sarcastic rather than hysterical works in the film’s favour. Had there been more of her in the film, there’s no doubt that The Last of the Red Hot Lovers would have been a much stronger effort, since she brought the best moments out of both the story and Arkin, who was doing strong work in their scenes together. Unfortunately, Paula Prentiss and Renee Taylor are not very good, turning in performances that have effort, but are merely after-thoughts, mostly meaningless archetypes without even an iota of the depth Kellerman brought to her character.

Unfortunately, it’s not the fault of the actors that most of their characters weren’t very good, since they do put in the effort. The fault lies in the fact that this was not a strong film as a whole. The play itself received mildly positive reviews, which is understandable, since this is a great concept to be explored in real-time. Transitioning it to film removes that dynamic quality that is found on the stage – and Saks (who is normally quite receptive to the necessary changes that need to be made during the adaptation process) doesn’t do much in adding to the narrative landscape, at least not in any meaningful way. The problem can’t be in the mishandling of the material, since Simon wrote the screenplay himself, so it’s very likely that he didn’t put in the work to help make this story more cinematic. It’s even worse when we realize that, while it’s not absolutely dreadful, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers is also not evenly mediocre – there are some genuinely strong moments throughout. Unfortunately, these are all front-loaded, with most of the good material fizzling out in the first half-hour. The story is structured in three distinct acts, with a prologue and epilogue – each act following one attempt at an extramarital affair with a different woman. The first, as we mentioned above, is fantastic and misleads us into thinking the whole film is a strong comedy. Then as soon as Kellerman exits the story, it begins to falter, very few moments even coming close to reaching those impossible heights. It isn’t even as if the film was working with such difficult concepts that it could promote its ambition over its narrative shortcomings. It just failed on the fundamental basis of keeping a consistently funny and interesting tone, which is close to failure when we consider the nature of the people involved in its creation.

There are a few moments in The Last of the Red Hot Lovers where one begins to wonder whether this is some woefully underrated gem – the first act is filled to the brim with witty dialogue and heartfelt humour, leading us to believe that its a strong existential comedy about important issues. Yet, it gradually starts to lose this goodwill, eroding at way at every bit of potential it had at the start. The theatrical nature of the story is understandable, and we can’t criticize it too much for the narrative itself, which still holds promise, just not in a way that feels productive and meaningful. Mercifully, this isn’t necessarily a career-low for anyone involved, since no one is actively terrible, just ranging from mediocre to good. However, it still doesn’t help that the film feels so entirely apathetic to its characters, never reaching a point where it feels like it had anything compelling to say, and instead resorting to the same hackneyed tricks that drive most similarly-themed films, the difference being that those films didn’t have the benefit of the direct involvement of the likes of Simon and Saks, who inspire the sensation of both comfort and prestige, neither of which are found in this film. As a whole, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers is slightly disappointing, but not at all surprising – even geniuses tend to have bad moments, and this film is not an exception. Cold, arid and often quite aimless, there was potential here that went almost entirely unfounded, leading to a film that tries to say something, but ultimately can’t muster up much effort to see it all the way through.