"Enter Laughing" is a coming of age film based on comedian Carl Reiner's autobiographical 1958 novel of the same title. It's a slice of life story typical of many movies made in the 1950s and 1960s. This film is like others about young people growing up in the neighborhoods of New York - usually the ethnic neighborhoods. They dream of something other than what their parents expect of them. In coming of age films from small towns, it's the boy or girl who wants to leave the sticks to make it big in the city.
Reiner produced and directed this film, and he assembled a notable cast of the day. Jose Ferrer is Harrison Marlowe, Shelley Winters is Mrs. Kolowitz, and Don Rickles as Harry Hamburger. Well-known supporting players include Jack Gilford, Elaine May, and Michael Pollard. Others of the cast are Reni Santoni as David Kolowitz, the young New Yorker who is the Reiner character from the Bronx.
This is a story set around his Jewish family and culture, with his emotional struggles entering adulthood. The circumstances of his joining an off-Broadway theatre group, while always being late for his job in Mr. Foreman's tooling shop, and his girlfriend and others fill the story out. The title from the film and the book is a stage direction used in screenplays and stage scripts.
Mom and pop Kalowitz (Shelley Winters and David Opatoshu) want their son, David, to become a druggist. Note that it's not a pharmacist, but a druggist. That's a reflection of the ethnic culture of the place and time. But David, who apparently has been imitating, following and fantasizing over male movie stars since young boyhood, has his heart set on becoming an actor.
There are few funny lines in the script. The humor is mostly in the family interchanges, with David's employer at work (Mr. Foreman) and in the stage tryouts and parts of the play with May's Angela Marlowe, Ferrer, and Richard Deacon as Pike.
As with most films of plots set in specific ethnic, racial, national or regional places or times, the humor in this film will probably be more recognized and appreciated by people from such backgrounds. For the rest, it probably won't seem as funny.
This is a clean and decent film, but likely with limited audience appeal or appreciation. The plot seemed to unfold very slowly, so that I could often anticipate the following scenario. I think the actors all did well, but the screenplay needed an injection of some crisp dialog to provide more all-around comedy for a broader general audience.
Here are a couple of the better lines.
David Kolowitz, "I know I wasn't very good." Harrison B. Marlowe, "You know it and I know it. Now, our job is to keep that little secret from the audience."
Mr. Morris Kolowitz, "What's so terrible about acting? Look at Paul Muni." Mrs. Emma Kolowitz, "For every Paul Muni there's a thousand bums with holes in their pants."
Reiner produced and directed this film, and he assembled a notable cast of the day. Jose Ferrer is Harrison Marlowe, Shelley Winters is Mrs. Kolowitz, and Don Rickles as Harry Hamburger. Well-known supporting players include Jack Gilford, Elaine May, and Michael Pollard. Others of the cast are Reni Santoni as David Kolowitz, the young New Yorker who is the Reiner character from the Bronx.
This is a story set around his Jewish family and culture, with his emotional struggles entering adulthood. The circumstances of his joining an off-Broadway theatre group, while always being late for his job in Mr. Foreman's tooling shop, and his girlfriend and others fill the story out. The title from the film and the book is a stage direction used in screenplays and stage scripts.
Mom and pop Kalowitz (Shelley Winters and David Opatoshu) want their son, David, to become a druggist. Note that it's not a pharmacist, but a druggist. That's a reflection of the ethnic culture of the place and time. But David, who apparently has been imitating, following and fantasizing over male movie stars since young boyhood, has his heart set on becoming an actor.
There are few funny lines in the script. The humor is mostly in the family interchanges, with David's employer at work (Mr. Foreman) and in the stage tryouts and parts of the play with May's Angela Marlowe, Ferrer, and Richard Deacon as Pike.
As with most films of plots set in specific ethnic, racial, national or regional places or times, the humor in this film will probably be more recognized and appreciated by people from such backgrounds. For the rest, it probably won't seem as funny.
This is a clean and decent film, but likely with limited audience appeal or appreciation. The plot seemed to unfold very slowly, so that I could often anticipate the following scenario. I think the actors all did well, but the screenplay needed an injection of some crisp dialog to provide more all-around comedy for a broader general audience.
Here are a couple of the better lines.
David Kolowitz, "I know I wasn't very good." Harrison B. Marlowe, "You know it and I know it. Now, our job is to keep that little secret from the audience."
Mr. Morris Kolowitz, "What's so terrible about acting? Look at Paul Muni." Mrs. Emma Kolowitz, "For every Paul Muni there's a thousand bums with holes in their pants."