The Ladies' Man

Released May 26, 1961

1h 46m

Comedy

List

100%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

67%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Upon losing his lover, Herbert (Jerry Lewis) gives up women for good and seeks a fresh start by taking a maintenance position at what appears to be an ordinary Los Angeles boarding house. To Herbert's surprise, however, the building caters specifically to single women. He immediately resolves to quit, but landlady Miss Wellenmellon (Helen Traubel) and sweet tenant Fay (Pat Stanley) talk him into keeping the job. In no time at all, Herbert is mired in one comic disaster after another.

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

In the end, the movie exalts the modest pleasures of everyday people, but, along the way, Lewis reveals the madder music within that they whistle while they work.

Mar 7, 2016

Full Review

Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

A bizarre, sexually ambiguous, cantankerously skeptical burlesque on the ascent of feminine independence.

Rated: 4/4

Oct 13, 2004

Full Review

Ray Pride

Newcity

Beyond the range of big laffs Lewis could readily rollick at that prolific stage of his career, there’s breathtaking Technicolor and Lewis’ mastery of the mobile camera. Behold vast ambition and also grace at his directorial command. The nerve of the man!

Rated: 10/10

Aug 16, 2022

Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

A masterwork of demasculinization

Feb 14, 2010

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

This is one of Jerry's more creative comedies.

Rated: B

Jun 30, 2007

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Turner Classic Movies Online

...it's hard not to be awed by the technological leaps of this production, and at their best his gags delve in to the realm of the surreal last visited by the Marx Brothers.

Apr 28, 2007

Full Review

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Audience Member

For the first couple minutes of The Ladies Man, I was interested in it because of how funny it was. Sadly, I lost interest for many reasons. Even though I like the humor, music, and the set of The Ladies Man, it wasn't as good as people said it was. I wasn't a big fan of the editing and the sound. But what really disappointed me was the writing by Jerry Lewis and Bill Richmond as I felt like the two have not only missed a lot of opportunities but also relied on skits instead of the plot for The Ladies Man. So to be honest, the film indeed would of been better but it felt like Jerry Lewis rushed into production on this one.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Jerry Lewis got his start as a comic in Manhattan singing along to records. He would make funny faces, pratfalls, and that was his thing. This movie is Jerry Lewis making funny faces and pratfalls, for an entire movie. If there is a length of wire on the ground he will step into it. If there is a trombone he'll fling the slide off. It feels like the movie lasts forever. Nothing is funny. Nothing. It's just weird face after weird face constantly mugging for the camera and yelling "Maaaw!" The set is gorgeous. There is one fantastic scene that's the white room scene. It's not really played for laughs just an all white room where Jerry Lewis finds a spider lady and dances with her in a white room painted with blue clouds to Harry James and his orchestra. It boggles the mind that anyone would like his. How? The terrible Three Stooges and Snow White which also came out in 1961 is easier to watch. Breakfast at Tiffany's a tremendous comedy came out in 1961 watch that instead if you want something from 1961. If you watch this movie you ask yourself, "Was Jerry Lewis ever funny?" The funniest thing he did in the entire movie was sit on George Raft's hat. That's it. He sat on the hat. Then George Raft said "You're sitting on my hat." That's about as good as this movie gets.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I never get tired of this bit. I laugh out loud every time I watch it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/15/22

Full Review

Audience Member

We need this comedy again, silly but classic.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/15/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Collection of sketches, some amusing. (Plot sketchy too.)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Trey R

Apparently, I am not savvy enough to appreciate the genius that is Jerry Lewis. I put this movie on as I recently endeavored to revisit the classics, or in this case view a classic that I had never before seen. The aesthetic and general visual presentation makes the most of its technicolor format and I generally enjoyed the setting being used as a commentary. That being said, the movie was simply not funny, the plot seems to be simply used to interconnect various skits, and I simply found Lewis' antics to be annoying. Yes it is comedy in the classical Greek sense that it has a happy ending, but my time watching it made me feel as if I was a character in a tragedy doomed to suffer for the pleasure of others.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

08/04/21

Full Review

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Jerry Lewis

Director

Jerry Lewis

Herbert H. Heebert

Helen Traubel

Miss Helen N. Wellenmellon

Kathleen Freeman

Katie

Hope Holiday

Miss Anxious

Pat Stanley

Fay

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Synopsis

Upon losing his lover, Herbert (Jerry Lewis) gives up women for good and seeks a fresh start by taking a maintenance position at what appears to be an ordinary Los Angeles boarding house. To Herbert's surprise, however, the building caters specifically to single women. He immediately resolves to quit, but landlady Miss Wellenmellon (Helen Traubel) and sweet tenant Fay (Pat Stanley) talk him into keeping the job. In no time at all, Herbert is mired in one comic disaster after another.

Director: Jerry Lewis
Screenwriter: Jerry Lewis, Bill Richmond
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 26, 1961, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2012
Runtime: 1h 46m

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