The Apartment 🏢
Happy Monday! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Share the newsletter with your movie-loving friends:
Today’s movie is Billy Wilder’s classic masterpiece The Apartment (1960)—streaming on Prime Video. I’ve been recommending a lot of contemporary movies lately, so I thought it’d be the perfect time to talk about a classic Best Picture winner that stands the test of time as one of the best movies ever made.
Here’s what it’s about: Corporate drone Bud Baxter (Jack Lemmon) climbs the ladder by lending his apartment out to his company’s executives to use with their mistresses. However, things get complicated when his work crush Fran (Shirley MacLaine) is taken to the apartment by his boss (Fred MacMurray). [Trailer // 125 mins]
Why you should watch it: Every scene of dialogue written by Wilder and co-screenwriter I. A. L. Diamond is completely born out of the studio comedy in the 60s—heightened and filled with character quirks—but has a naturalistic quality to them. It’s eminently quotable, both for its funny lines and acute observations about life.
As watchable as it is, The Apartment’s ability to take an inherently comedic situation and imbue it with musings on relationships, crushes, personal growth and even capitalism, is what makes it great. MacLaine and Lemmon’s performances are perfect because of the imperfections of the characters. In particular, the darkness lingering just below the surface in every one of MacLaine’s line-readings (like the one above) makes for a one-two punch of comedy and longing.
📺 Buy or rent: Prime Video | Apple TV | YouTube
Pair it with 🍷
Set it Up: In a play on the classic The Parent Trap formula, Set it Up follows two burnt-out assistants (Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell) who hatch a plan to get their respective bosses (Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs) off their backs by getting them to fall in love with each other. Of course, that takes a lot of time, energy, and dollar slices of pizza — all the necessary elements to fall in love. [Where to watch]
Have a terrific week.
See you Thursday —
Karl (@karl_delo)