The Seven Year Itch
Kind of insufferable at the beginning with the Voice of God narration and <PERSON> unconvincingly uttering his every thought aloud for the audience's (supposed) benefit, and only mildly entertaining thereafter, The Seven Year Itch somehow manages to be passable. <PERSON> hated this film and said that it is meaningless if <PERSON> remains chaste (he doesn't in the play), but it's in fact precisely this fact that redeems the film. 144
Not for any moral reason, of course, but because <PERSON>'s <PERSON> is the most uncharismatic and irritating character imaginable and that, along with the presence of <PERSON>, means that we're looking at a male fantasy bordering on the self-aware.
This is a film about the typically masculine idea that one's confidence could make up for countless character flaws and allow you to score even someone as beautiful as <PERSON>—that is, if not for the stifling institute of marriage. It's a fantasy from start to finish, one that achieves self-awareness with "wouldn't you like to know [who's in my kitchen]? Maybe it's <PERSON>!" There is no reason for <PERSON> to sleep with <PERSON>, because his goal is merely to prove that he could have, to be assured that he would have made 100% of the shots that he didn't take. If <PERSON> had his way, or if the protagonist had a single redeeming feature, it would blunt the only edge the film has. 698