THE LAST MARRIED COUPLE IN AMERICA
1980 – R – 102 Min.
D: Gilbert Cates
S: George Segal – Natalie Wood – Richard Benjamin – Dom DeLuise – Valerie Harper
MCA Universal Home Entertainment
Jeff and Mari (Segal and Wood) are a happily married couple that watch in disbelief and fear as all their friends separate or get divorced. Eventually questioning his own relationship and manhood, Jeff gives in to the advances of Mari’s slutty friend Barbara (Harper). Curiosity probably played a part in it as well considering his reaction to hearing about Barbara’s vagina tightening operation. And only 400 bucks, what they won’t think of next! Anyway, Jeff ends up with the clap so the truth comes out. Mari had been unfaithful in the past and these recent events bring all that out of the closet as well; now they too are separated and their seemingly novel status, referenced in the title, is in serious jeopardy. Soon, everybody is sleeping with, or trying to sleep with, just about anyone or anything moving. Oh yeah, watch for Priscilla Barnes in a small role. It all comes down to what happens at a birthday party (set-up before all the shenanigans) our troubled couple must throw for Frank (DeLuise). A party populated with hookers, porn stars, cross-dressers, and swingers from San Diego. Can the last married couple in America survive? Will you give a floating multicolored monkey fart either way? Though the film begins with the potential to become amusing and involving satire, it quickly degenerates into an emotionally challenged and morally bankrupt dirty joke with all the heartfelt insight of a discarded A-Team script. It’s a shame; Segal and Wood are both fine and have strong chemistry in their early scenes together, but past the halfway point it becomes increasingly difficult to give a damn what happens to them or anybody else in the story. Believable honesty and sincerity are not felt, on the contrary, virtually every character ends up looking like a self-possessed jerk by the time it’s over. For something similar (though far more rewarding) check out Bill Persky’s 1980 film Serial instead.