Netflix Movie Review: The Apartment (1960)
Kevin Burke, Staff Writer–
If you’re one of those people that can’t enjoy an old time black and white movie, then you probably need to move to New York for a year to “find” yourself because your life is in shambles.
I say that because this week’s movie review is of The Apartment (1960) starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, and directed by Billy Wilder.
Wilder, of course, being the creative genius behind such Marilyn Monroe classics as The Seven-Year Itch, and Some Like it Hot.
The Apartment follows office worker C.C. Baxter (Lemmon), who—in order to move up the company’s corporate ladder—reluctantly allows his bosses to use his apartment as a place to carry out their extramarital affairs.
As the movie progresses, Baxter begins to fall for one of the company’s elevator attendants, Fran Kubelik (MacLaine), who he discovers to be the mistress of his boss, Mr. Sheldrake. But when Fran realizes that Mr. Sheldrake will never love her the way that she loves him, she decides to do something drastic.
Baxter then returns to his apartment to find Fran passed out in his bed from an overdose of sleeping pills, and now has to think fast if he wants to save her life.
The Apartment is a daringly entertaining film that delivers just the right amounts of drama, comedy, and emotion to make the audience feel all fuzzy inside.
Lemmon and MacLaine’s characters come off so likable and relatable that we find ourselves rooting for them the whole time. In fact, their chemistry in the movie is so strong that it makes you wish they started an on-set romance that developed into a twenty-year marriage with a daughter who is now trying to get into show business herself but doesn’t quite have the charisma of mom and pop… Sorry, I got a little side-tracked there.
The Comment officially gives The Apartment (1960) five stars out of five, and recommends it to anyone that isn’t boring.
And on a less prestigious note, The Apartment also received four Academy Awards including Best Picture at the 1960 Oscars, if you’re into that kind of thing.
