Rating: 2.5/5
Anti-Criterion Challenge 2024 | 1/52 | World premiere coincides with your star sign
Beverly Hills, 1968
I don't fuck anybody for money. I do it for fun.
George (Warren Beaty) is a Hollywood hairdresser who hates that he has people above him. He wants to open his hair salon.
George is fucking Felicia (Lee Grant).
George is dating Jill (Goldie Hawn), who doesn’t know he fucks around.
Felicia’s husband, Lester (Jack Warden), is fucking Jackie (Julie Christie), who is also George’s ex — the only one he may have loved.
Are you keeping up?
George appeals to Lester to help bankroll his hair salon.
Lester thinks George is gay. Lester’s daughter, Lorna (Carrie Fisher), knows better. So Lorna and George fuck.
Jill has a job offer from Johnny Pope (Tony Bill), who has feelings for Jill.
Lester asks George to take Jackie to a Republican soiree. Johnny Pope is going with Jill. Felicia, Lester’s wife, shows up as well. Chaos ensues.
Warren Beaty plays a heightened version of himself — a sex-obsessed, anger-prone child that everyone wants to fuck. He doesn’t know what he wants out of life. He thinks opening his hair salon will fix it, but he only wants to have more control over his life and access to more people to fuck.
Like many Robert Towne scripts, politics move around in the background, suggesting themes but not dominating the story. It has the smarmy confidence of the 70s that conservatism is dead. Where the film hits is its depiction of Republican “concerns.” They live a rich, insulated life from the violence their politics embody, so they feel they are improving the world and looking after their bottom line.
I just wish I knew what the hell I'm living for.
We don’t see George develop as a character or learn anything. We see him admit to his proclivities, and he sees it as his right.
Let's face it. I fucked them all. That's why I went to beauty school. They're always there, and I don't know why I'm apologizing… It makes me feel like I'm gonna live forever.
Despite George’s efforts to fix things, life progresses without him.
The only emotional beat that worked for me was near the end. The rest of the movie is a rote farce.