Imagine if an undertaker, or a Methodist parson, or the head of the local chapter of the DAR decided, on a whim, to sit down and write a comedy script. This movie would be something like what they would come up with. I cannot understand a 6.3 rating for a movie whose supposed humor is so forced, so wooden, so brittle. Comedies must have some credibility in their comic premises but everything here is so preposterous that one simply can't buy it. The head-spinning gyrations in the relationship between Douglas and Haywood's characters simply destroys the movie's comic premises. And since neither Douglas nor Haywood excelled at comedy, one wonders just who decided to cast them here. Both actors were sufficiently in demand that they could be choosy with their material, so one wonders what prompted to sign on to this dreck. Jim Backus excelled at comedy but even he can't do anything with what he is given here. I suffered through to the end just to see how it would turn out; because I suffered, you don't have to.
Review of Top Secret Affair
