A new version of a 1976 french comedy film adapted to the american silver screens by Gene Wilder, The Woman in Red is a movie about a man finding himself in a middle of a midlife crisis and falling for a young model he starts chasing after.

There are a few positive sparks here. Gilda Radner absolutely steals the show as the disgruntled secretary caught between the affair by mistake, and Charles Grodin once again proves he can make the best out of any material thrown his way. Gene Wilder also reminds us with the horseback riding scene that his comical abilities are still there.

Otherwise the movie is a mess. The overall pacing is off, the relationship between the office worker and the super model doesn’t seem to follow any logic and all the numerous disjointed plot lines are patchy and never followed through. Although the movie is short at only 80 minutes, the struggle in both writing and directing to tie a bunch of mediocre ideas together to an actual film is obvious.

The Woman in Red was heading to the ballpark of 40% overall rating until it performs its ultimate sin with its 70s style ending by first carefully painting the protagonist to a corner and then resolving everything with an idiotic shrug of a shoulders.

80s-o-meter: 67%

Total: 17%