WB sure has made some silly movies, and this one is no exception. It's a lot like the WB comedies of Barbra Streisand from the same time period. Forget about the title. Natale Wood plays "Dr. Helen Gurley Brown" as the author of the book "Sex and the Single Girl." No resemblance to the book, whatsoever. A great cast in a lightweight film: Natale Wood, Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall, Jose Ferrer, Stubie Kay, Larry Storch. The guy who played "Gen. Bullmoose" in Li'l Abner. Also Leslie Parish (she was Daisy Mae) and several Hollywood character actors old film buffs will recognize at once. Edward Everett Horton as the Chairman of the Board of "Stop" Magazine. Count Basie and his Orchestra. Fran Jeffries is a "knockout" as Gretchen. Great chemistry between Tony and Natale. They really seem to enjoy kissing each other. She is wonderful to see as a fresh-faced young girl. The plot is so silly it's barely worth mentioning. Through many cases of mistaken identity, Tony Curtis writes an article for that sleaze-bag mag "Stop" and exposes the writer of that "Sex" book as a complete phony. Henry Fonda, a nylon salesman, is wrongly accused of being a "trigamist" married to three women. Tony Curtis has several girlfriends and falls in love with Natale (who wouldn't?) The whole thing ends with a hysterical 20 minute slapstick car chase reminiscent of the old Universal movies from the 1940's. Larry Storch as the motorcycle cop goes "nuts" and tries to arrest everybody. It's a lot of fun in a totally forgettable film that will remind you of "Mad Mad World". It's only highly-rated because Natale Wood is in it, and we miss her so much!

Here is a movie that could have been a 60s classic lampooning tabloid journalism, skin-deep psychology, proto-feminism, marital problems, hypocrisy, and sexual freedom. Instead, it is a cartoonish pastiche of amateurish slapstick, poorly-time jokes, silly contrived situations, and one of the most idiotic and long car chases in the history of cinema.The idea of a sleazy editor doing a hatchet job on a 23-year-old virgin psychologist who has written a bestseller affirming the sexual lives of single women should certainly have hilarious possibilities - specially if he is a liar, she cannot handle her own feelings, and they are sexually attracted to each other. However, the script is ludicrous and inconsistent often degenerating into total silliness: at first, the story appears to take place in New York, then all the characters end up at the L.A. airport; a woman is singing with the Count Basie Orchestra and trying to land a recording contract, then she wants to fly away with any man anywhere; a man struggles with his business and marriage, then he just decides to fly away to Hawaii or Fiji.The inept direction give us the sad spectacle of screen giants Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall doing the twist while the Count Basie Orchestra is performing a swing song! They try saying their idiotic lines with utter lack of conviction - probably this movie was an embarrassment to them. Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis also fail at being funny although that is the script's fault and not their own. In the long run, it is hard to watch so much stupidity and wasted talent on the screen. Avoid it at all costs.

In-name-only movie-version of Helen Gurley Brown's book, a glossy but fairly unamusing comedy which begins as a semi-sophisticated battle-of-the-sexes, eventually becoming a ditsy slapstick outing which treats its characters as overage juveniles. Gossip-magazine editor Tony Curtis lands on Natalie Wood's couch--but sex is the furthest thing from her mind, as she's playing a psychologist. Gurley Brown was probably red-faced at having her title (and name) utilized for nothing more than another '60s bedroom farce (one wherein the bedroom is kept strictly under wraps). Curtis and Wood look great in their prime, but their characters are all talk, little action. The funniest material is saved for alternate couple Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall. *1/2 from ****

It is the revolutionary decade of the 1960's, and you are a successful career girl, a devoted young sex therapist (aka Helen Gurley Brown). The intriguing conundrum being "Does she or doesn't she" You have been ravaged by a salacious tabloid which thrives on malignancy!! It boils down to a choice between a sleazy columnist concealing himself as a married man, (Tony Curtis) or a confidant who is merely seeking a stilted arrangement, (Mel Ferrar) Your clothes are from Bonwit Teller which insinuates that you are masquerading a pretense of sophistication and elusive composure!! Such a wardrobe suggests a disconcerting demeanor about "Being Above Reproach" So!! as a result, sex with whom you think is a married man, (Tony Curtis) is just not in your cosmopolitan repertoire..but then again, he does that "Thing with the Ear"...We are not talking about putting his mouth over it like a pet terrier or a grandparent or something, we are talking about a "penetrating slither"... Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda's marital problems are what instigate the plot in this movie!! Tony Curtis pretends to be Frank Broderick,(Henry Fonda's character) with ulterior motives to unearth a gossip ridden story about a prominent therapist's (Natalie Wood) virginity status!! An oversexed male who delves into the recreation of sexual depravity is callous in his rudimentary pursuit of "basic needs". These urges are best paralleled with feeding time at the zoo!! While you are at the zoo, you might want to check up on how this evolutionary ladder thing is progressing!! Cleverly receiving an invitation to her apartment, she (Natalie Wood) thinks this for purposes of acting as a therapist and assuming a surrogate role, anything to help, right? How foolish!! Tony Curtis winds up wearing an upper middle class woman's bathrobe (fondly reminiscing about the days of "Some like it Hot") and now!! it is time to get down to business!! The bottom of the earlobe is everyone's nemesis, and not just a sexual deviate's!! Heavy breathing on your ear, especially after a couple of martinis, gives your professional resolve all the longevity of a Popsicle on a hot July afternoon!! Your befuddled verbosity which contains an onslaught of analytical euphemisms is a subterfuge for your maverick curiosity, and that pejorative confusion inevitably translates to your desire for "Sex"!! Everyone lights a cigarette while they have another cigarette going already!! This precarious mannerism purports a potpourri of falsehoods everybody seems comfortable with!! Lying about things has now become second nature to people, as a matter of fact, it is kind of fun!! This allegedly married man you are cavorting with has a good head on his shoulders, but he is not thinking with his head...What he is thinking with is not very swift at all!! BELIEVE ME!! Such a lewd fiasco comprises the aggregate compendium of you as the prototype for woman's liberation in the 1960's!! Finally, recrimination has evoked a bittersweet awakening to you!! It is now become very obvious to you that first hand consequences are dreadfully different from that article you read in Reader's Digest" on "THE DON JUAN COMPLEX" To top it all off, you fall in love!! Natalie Wood is sensational in this role...Originally known as the adorable little girl on "Miracle on 34th St" not much has changed since then!! She may still believe in Santa Claus because he is the only man who keeps his promises!!The movie "Sex and the Single Girl" has an amazing array of talent, Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis, Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrar, and a whole list of others!! It depicts a scenario that the sexual revolution comes in blue and pink, and it is here to stay for good and keeps, it is just a matter of how effective and ubiquitous it will be on the various individuals involved!! Body parts like knees and ear lobes are vulnerabilities for the consummate carnal's double-entendre!! This film amusingly resonates itself to a common sixties style movie, and winds up having a matchmaker's version of a happy ending!! Most significantly, everybody has flippantly and metaphorically acknowledged that Eve ate the apple. the Greeks were indeed, perverted, and a person by the name of Sigmund Freud did actually exist!! Funny movie!!! Why? It is a comically realistic illustration of men's over active hormones that are incorporated into a screwball comedy!!...I liked this movie!!