Frances Chung
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Tymon Sutton
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
Francene Odetta
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
mshduke
Our narrator informs us at the start that our film takes place near the turn of the century, so we must assume it is 1998 or 1999. NASA is now NAWA and is in a pickle. Both the Americans and the Russians are maintaining weather stations on the moon. The Americans have 2 male astronauts while the Russians have a male and female. The problem is, one of the Americans keeps attacking the Russian female because he has gone mad. The head of NAWA sees a publicity coup by arranging for a married American team to replace the 2 men, but everything falls apart when the newly married couple starts fighting. Enter Lewis as Peter Mattemore, the oldest trainee who always finds a way out of actual space flight. Mattemore manages to convince Eileen Forbes (played by the lovable Connie Stevens) to marry him and go to the moon with him. Hilarity ensues after they arrive at their destination to find the 2 Russian cosmonauts (played by Dick Shawn and Anita Eckberg) and find Shawn's character is a sex crazed cossack.For most of the film Lewis is rather subdued in his acting, only letting some of his comic genius burst out for a few seconds at a time. It isn't until we are 2/3's through the film that the true slapstick that we recognize as Lewis trots out during the party scene with all 4 main characters. Stevens is her usual sexy yet girl next door type. She really makes those clear plastic couches and pillows look good. Eckberg, although more statuesque and built than Stevens, takes a back seat to Connie. Shawn is a zany lunatic that is about the only equal to Lewis when it comes to over the top acting.
MartinHafer
"Way...Way Out" is an unusual Jerry Lewis film mostly because it isn't really a comedy. Sure, it has a few laughs here and there, but the overall effect is more like a commentary about the Cold War than a funny film. To put it bluntly, it isn't particularly funny--though it is interesting.The film is set in the near future. There is an American and Russian base on the Moon and both are quite small--with two persons in each. As for the American base, the men aboard keep going crazy--presumably because they cannot function without women. But, the Russians have sent a man-woman team and their base is functioning much better. So, the head of the American space agency (an oddly cast Robert Morley) has determined that the next team going to the station will be married. The problem is that the next man scheduled to go (Jerry Lewis) is single and has no particular plans to marry. But, when told they want him to marry a pretty lady (Connie Stevens), he's in favor of the idea--but she isn't. So, the pair agree to go and to marry but not to consummate the marriage. The rest of the film is basically waiting until Stevens changes her mind. In between there is a pretty silly (and forgettable) plot involving the two Russians (Dick Shawn and Anita Ekberg).The bottom line is that the film lacks laughs but is also inoffensive and an interesting look into the times in which it was made. A must for Lewis fans--otherwise, an inoffensive time-passer and nothing more.By the way, I am not sure why but if you watch the veteran actor Sig Ruman closely, you can tell his voice is dubbed. Perhaps he had trouble doing the Russian accent credibly.
oystermanproductions
Jerry Lewis movie, I swear I love this thing. It's better than The Nutty Professor. The Commies have a man and woman on the moon. So the Americans send up Jerry Lewis and Connie Stevens, the first married astronauts. It's an arranged marriage, they barely know each other. So the movie has this sweet vibe as these two married strangers start to fall in love. And there's some moon shenanigans. The Russians invade the space station, and Jerry swallows all the vodka pills. I haven't seen this movie in twenty years--it's not out on DVD, a crime--but I have fond memories. It's a happy flick. And the title song is an inspired bit of 60's pop music.
Ken4Pyro
OK, so it's not sophisticated Woody Allen comedy, or even high-tech science fiction. As we say in the math world: givens.But this one has some pieces which are over the top hilarious. The premise of this movie are noted in other comments and reviews, so I'm not going to waste time on that.Some things I'll always remember:**Howard Morris as Schmidlap. A galloping libido, stuck on the moon for a year with no female companionship, who descends into random violence towards Hoffman (played wonderfully by Dennis Weaver), includes two manic exchanges. Hoffman is pleading with the earth to send up replacements when the boss (Robert Morely) notices his front teeth are incomplete, and just casually asks what happened. Whereupon Hoffman responds that Schmidlap, in a testosterone fueled episode, knocked them out. Oh man, classic. The other event was when they're trying to get him in the spacecraft to go home to earth, and they have to practically hit him with a tranq dart to keep him from getting near Connie Stevens. Morris at his screwy, nutty, insanely funny best.**Brian Keith as General Hallenby. Oh my. Screaming, grumbling, and all with a lack of understanding of what's going on around him that's just rich. His exchange with Lewis, who's told he has to "Secure the moon", results in Lewis, quite appropriately asking why he should do such a thing. Hallenby's response? "None of your damn business, Mattimore, JUST SECURE THE MOON!" As in, you don't have the need to know, so shut up and do what I tell you. Brian Keith's battle with the TV remote is not to be missed.**Dick Shawn, a truly funny man, as a highly oversexed Russian, in a battle with "instant vodka" (just add water). Watching him struggle with the water jet, and eventually just giving up and swallowing the "instant vodka" tablets and then drinking water (talk about an instant DUI!) is just too priceless. And then, in a fit of western monogamy, he tries to warn Lewis not to try any frolics with Ekberg. His mangling of the word "hanky-panky" is a cheap joke, but Shawn pulls it off so well that I've remembered it for over 40 years.Yes, this isn't Lewis at his best. For me that will always be the original "Nutty Professor", but in watching a lot of movies in my time I've learned something I think about a lot with him in relation to this movie. It takes a huge talent to let someone else get all the laughs. Very few in movies today have that kind of class, and Lewis did, and does.So sure, it's not high brow humor. So what? It was funny, in spots, and that's not a bad thing.
