This was released in 1983, too early for me to remember it if I saw it back then. But I always remember the poster for it, since it was a pretty big hit, and it stayed at the video store for a long time. I never wanted to see it. It seemed like a comedy focusing on “look at this guy struggling to be a homemaker!” It didn’t seem like that clever a premise.
So now that I’ve seen it, I have no idea why it was a hit. There are a few amusing bits, but most of it is pretty bland and predictable. Michael Keaton doesn’t get much of an opportunity to shine. The story is a little unbalanced. It starts off like it will have a stronger focus on the wife’s time at work, then it abandons that for watching Keaton doing a bunch of chores.
It was written by John Hughes, and his sense of humor shines through. In particular, the sequence at the supermarket. There was an unusual scene, which I liked for the creative elements. The movie seamlessly moves into a fantasy sequence. It reminded me of The Seven Year Itch.
There was one joke I actually laughed at. Keaton is on the phone talking about a soap opera to someone else, and there’s a line about “he had a vasectomy, but it didn’t take.”
The real weakness of the movie is that it feels very dated, even for the 80s. If this were a movie from the 50s or 60s, it would probably be pretty brilliantly handled. It seems antiquated for the 80s. The fun of flipping gender roles doesn’t seem all that remarkable for that time period.
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