CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

BlackJack_B George Kaczender's In Praise of Older Women, from Stephen Vizinczey's novel of the same name, is an extremely controversial film. The Canadian version of the MPAA objected to the nudity and explicit simulated sex in the film and would not release it unless Kaczender removed 2 minutes of footage. Kaczender was willing to remove 10 seconds of footage. Eventually, a compromise was reached and 30 seconds were edited out of the film. IPOW was released in 1978 and won 4 "Genie" Awards.Regardless, IPOW is nothing more than a classier version of the type of film The Asylum would produce in 2014. Tom Berenger, in his second notable film appearance, plays Andras Vayda, a young man who wants to be a professor and is looking for love. Thing is, he doesn't want to get frisky with women his own age. He seems more interested in seducing women who are 15 years his senior or older. Throughout the movie, he has affairs with a number of older women throughout a 12 year period played by the likes of Karen Black, Marilyn Lightstone, Susan Strasburg, Alexandra Stewart and Helen Shaver (who was actually 2 years younger than Berenger was) while an older voice representing him narrates at times.Despite being nothing more than soft core pornography, there are some good scenes. Alberta Watson, another one of his conquests, plays a cabaret singer dressed in a French outfit who sings a seductive song that piques his interest. Shaver, who won a "Genie" for her character of Ann MacDonald, offers some light comic relief and Black is as solid as ever as Maya, the gateway to Andras' love of cougars. Berenger shows promise as an actor early on but despite his top billing, cedes to the established actresses. The movie also uses the 1956 Hungarian Revolution as a backdrop and then later his time as a professor in Montreal.While not a great piece of cinema, it is a good film among 1970's erotica and it's elevated by the big names in the cast, present and future. Certainly worth a look for curiosity sake.

SnoopyStyle Andras Varda (Tom Berenger) is orphaned in WWII Hungary, where he becomes a kid hustler for the American GIs. As he grows up, he is disillusioned with the fickle girls of his own age. He gets involved with older Maya (Karen Black) who teaches him the ways of love. Then he has a string of lovers taking him to the Velvet Revolution and beyond.For a movie that purports to advocate something profound, this seems to be a very superficial film. There is no depth to Tom Berenger's acting. I think he's not the best actor for the role. He looks like a jock trying to get laid. I think a geekier actor could bring more intelligence to the character. It would bring life to the interior monologue. And the pacing is terribly slow. Tom Berenger has the energy of a blank sheet of paper. I think he has the ability to project anger or power but he isn't allowed to in this movie. It's not his type of movie. It's not horrible but it is boring. It's probably more notable for some soft core pretensions.

smatysia Well, this film was made to fill a niche that no longer exists. Like the old B-movies sort of went away when that area fell to television, this film was soft-core before cable channels filled that niche. And, it does so better, having B-list actresses, rather than D-list and former porn actresses. Most of the actresses did really solid work, especially Karen Black, Marilyn Lightstone, and Helen Shaver. Tom Berenger was awkward to the point of being painful to watch, but I doubt that it is due to bad acting. That is almost certainly the director's vision. The dialogue was also painfully awkward, but that only makes sense. The background of the 1956 Hungarian uprising made for some interest as well. The film is intended to be sexy, so consider that when deciding to view this one.

gridoon Like someone else on this page has already said, this movie should not be approached as a serious period piece, but as a soft-core porn flick. The vapid characters have been stripped of all human dimensions except their sex drive. You kind of wonder when exactly Tom Berenger's character found the time to become a philosophy professor, since we almost always see him in a horizontal position, if you know what I mean. But nobody can deny that the film does have some genuinely erotic moments (Susan Strasberg steals the show in that department, as the always "hungry for more" Bobbie). (**)