'

How to Murder Your Wife

Play trailer

How to Murder Your Wife

1965

1h 58m

Comedy

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

64%

Tomatometer

14 Reviews

64%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Stanley Ford (Jack Lemmon) is a successful cartoonist and happily single. That is, until, he gets drunk at a friend's bachelor party and impulsively proposes to the beautiful woman who pops out of the cake (Virna Lisi). Once sober, he regrets the decision, but she won't agree to a divorce. Stanley jokingly vents his frustrations in his comic strip by having the main character kill his wife. But when his actual wife goes missing and Stanley is arrested for her murder, he has a change of heart.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Buy Now

TIME Magazine

A nimble comedy that doesn't make much sense because it makes nonsense, most of it screechingly funny and played by knockabouts who know that the slapstick was invented for keeping an idea aloft, not for beating it into the ground.

May 9, 2011

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Finesse and desire aren't enough to overcome the fact that Axelrod's script doesn't make the most of its potentially antic situations.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Believable or not, this stuff is funny just so long as one can go with the sour joke- -and that depends upon one's tolerance of trivia and also, perhaps, upon whether one is a fellow or a girl.

Rated: 3/5

May 9, 2005

Full Review

Dwight MacDonald

Esquire Magazine

In the screwball tradition, but the old shack has been redecorated with solid-mahogany furniture, plush drapes and wall-to-wall carpeting.

Aug 13, 2019

Full Review

TV Guide

This dated comedy is saved by Lemmon's comedic genius which eschews macho.

Rated: 3.5/4

May 9, 2011

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Jun 11, 2005

Full Review

Read all reviews

Pari P

The movie literally says "Marriage is an institution that men are bullied into by women. Every man would press a button to make their wife disappear given a chance to do so without any consequences".

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/18/25

Full Review

Bruce J

What a great flick. Granted it is lighthearted and made with 60's standards, but it is funny! The sound track is under appreciated. What a way to spend an evening when you can't decide what to do...

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/26/25

Full Review

Cheryl P

It’s about a man who goes to a bachelor party and gets drunk out of his mind and ends up marrying the woman who was hired to come out of a cake. He is a committed bachelor and now has to cope with the situation. It’s very funny and something that would never be shown on television today, which makes a refreshing change. It’s the comedy that is life and the differences between men and women, especially back in the day when the movie was made.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/16/24

Full Review

Steve D

Dark and NEVER amusing.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

04/15/24

Full Review

ed b

This is a very funny and very clever film that would not be made today. Brilliant acting, brilliant plot and Jack Lemmon and Terry Thomas just gel perfectly. Show this one to your kids for a good clean funny movie with no drugs and no profanity.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

farah r

It's hard to believe a film with such a premise that degrades women in every way was allowed to get made even back then. It's very offensive and unfunny.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Richard Quine

Director

Jack Lemmon

Stanley Ford

Virna Lisi

Mrs. Ford

Terry-Thomas

Charles

Eddie Mayehoff

Harold Lampson

Claire Trevor

Edna

Lord Love a Duck

70%

72%

Lord Love a Duck

Watchlist

Sex and the Single Girl

50%

56%

Sex and the Single Girl

Watchlist

Under the Yum Yum Tree

17%

56%

Under the Yum Yum Tree

Watchlist

Send Me No Flowers

60%

74%

Send Me No Flowers

Watchlist

Dear Heart

33%

70%

Dear Heart

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

Stanley Ford (Jack Lemmon) is a successful cartoonist and happily single. That is, until, he gets drunk at a friend's bachelor party and impulsively proposes to the beautiful woman who pops out of the cake (Virna Lisi). Once sober, he regrets the decision, but she won't agree to a divorce. Stanley jokingly vents his frustrations in his comic strip by having the main character kill his wife. But when his actual wife goes missing and Stanley is arrested for her murder, he has a change of heart.

Director: Richard Quine
Producer: George Axelrod
Screenwriter: George Axelrod
Production Co: Murder Inc.
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 28, 2009
Runtime: 1h 58m

Most Popular at Home Now