Even for a throwaway comedy like this one, it is difficult to accept that a double murder attempt only foiled by the perpetrator's ineptitude is a) funny, b) would be dismissed by all who are aware of it, including the victims, as an innocent mistake that anybody could have made and that should go unpunished by law.

Claude Eastman (Dudley Moore) is a famous composer and conductor. His new young wife Daniella (Nastassja Kinski) is an actress. A confusion causes his friend to hire a private investigator to check on her. The investigator finds something which drives Claude mad with jealousy. He has a fantasy of murdering her and framing her supposed boyfriend violinist Maxmillian Stein (Armand Assante).There is something unfunny about an angry jealous Dudley Moore. I've never seen the original Preston Sturges. I have to think that another comedic actor could inject some screwball comedy into this dark character. Dudley is simply hateful without being fun. I imagine a Danny DeVito would be a better fit. Dudley is better as the lovable lush. I don't like him as this character and I can't laugh at him either.

Not bad for a remake. The central character is altered to suit Dudley Moore instead of Rex Harrison. Harrison was more suave. This script has Moore doing a variation of his stone roles in "Ten" and "Arthur." He gets bombed on tranquilizers during the climactic act-out and stumbles into walls and broom closets, detracting a bit from whatever sophistication the original had but making this version no less amusing.The plot. Dudley Moore is a celebrated orchestra conductor. A series of mistakes leads him to conclude that his wife, Nastasja Kinski, is having an affair with a man who wears argyle socks. There is a furious search for argyle socks, with Moore ducking under the tables of fancy restaurants to check the socks worn by his companions. It's an old scene, this ducking under restaurant tables, but Moore pulls it off as well as anyone could. The only argyle socks he can find are those worn by his friend, the violinist Armand Assante.Moore concocts a scheme to kill his wife and frame the violinist for the murder. The scheme isn't so much improbable as it is impossible, but it's funny enough in fantasy. When Moore tries to pull it off, everything goes wrong, of course, and the movie more or less collapses into frenzy.Moore is good at these kinds of roles. God knows he's had enough practice. And he's a likable chap. It's difficult to envision him in an action movie -- "My Knife Is Quick", or something. Armand Assante is fine in a comedy. The first impression he makes is one of beefy, self-confident masculinity, but he's quite good in comic roles and is capable of self ridicule in a way that, say, Sylvester Stallone is not. Of Nastassja Kinski, what is there to say? She's sinewy, stunningly beautiful, more animated than usual, and edible.Not a masterpiece but enjoyable.

Don't ask me why but I absolutely wanna see all films with Nastassja Kinski and with this in mind I know I have to see some bad ones as well. Is this one a stinker? Not really but it's just one of those eightiescomedies in where a goldfish is funnier than Dudley Moore himself. Still wearing his playboyattitude (never could get that!) from "Ten", Moore plays the role of Claude Eastman who happen to be one of the most respected musicconductors. He just has married his new Italian wife Daniella (never understood why she wasn't Russian as madame Kinski speaks with a very Russian accent) and due to a stupid householdkeeper Giuseppe (Richard Libertini, the sole man with whom you can laugh even if he plays a complete idiot) his wife is followed by a detective as Claude told him to keep an eye on her.... This comedy could have been made in the 60's as this is pure Boeing Boeing-style, you know one situation leads to another situation that is based on false suspicions and so.... Naaah you saw it million times before, you saw it million times better but you never saw it with Nastassja Kinski