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Visitors Review

duesouth1420 2012-05-25 04:37:04

Disappointing

I was really looking forward to this movie as I have always liked DeanMartin and Jerry Lewis. However, this movie was SO one sided it wassickening. This film shows all the good sides of Jerry Lewis and all theBAD sides of Dean Martin. I wasn't surprised to learn that Jerry Lewiswasa consultant on the film and that he was quite pleased with it.....it wasvery biased. I will say I thought the actors did an excellent job withtoughroles to play.

Isaac5855 2012-05-24 13:03:15

An entertaining and seemingly factual TV movie that leaves you wanting more...

MARTIN & LEWIS was the 2002 TV movie that traced the rise and eventualdestruction of one of the greatest show business teams in Hollywoodhistory. Even though I have always felt Martin and Lewis are worthysubjects of a theatrical biopic, I will take this over nothing. Thismovie starts in the 1940's and showcases the beginning of both of theseshow business legends and implies that both were struggling and aboutto go under when, according to this film, both were booked at the sameclub and Lewis inserted himself into Martin's act and the audiencethought they were so funny together that they became an act that soldout nightclubs and eventually segued into a lucrative movie career. Idon't know for sure how close it is to the truth, but this film depictsJerry Lewis as an insecure, career-driven ego maniac who sincerelythought he was the brains of the act and that they would be nowherewithout him and Martin is the guy who just sort of allowed Lewis topush and prod him through their success until Lewis' ego got to be toomuch for Dean to take. Whether or not this is what really happened, Iguess only Dean and Jerry can say for sure, but it made for animmensely entertaining TV movie that had me riveted from start tofinish. Sean Hayes received an Emmy nomination for his nearly flawlessrecreation of Jerry Lewis, from an insecure unknown comic begging forhis dad's approval to the egomaniac whose insecurities, paranoia, andcontrol issues drove Martin and everyone else to the edge. JeremyNortham's powerhouse turn as Dean Martin matches Hayes note for note.Martin's singing voice is dubbed in for the musical sequences, but therest is Northam, who brings Martin's easy and laid back personabeautifully to life here. He may not really resemble Martin physically,but Martin's personality, spirit and even his speaking voice were onthe money for me here and the interaction between Northam and Hayes iskinetic here...a joy to watch. Mention should also be made of PaulaCale as Dean's first wife, Bettya and to Kate Levering as Dean's secondwife, Jeanne. This TV movie was a triumph and one of the few times Iwished a film could have been longer. This one definitely left mewanting more. I'm still hoping it will inspire a theatrical look atthis legendary team.

fcasnette 2012-05-24 06:30:12

above average TV fare if you're interested in the 50s

I was pulled into this movie, despite a clichéd and standard TV movietype script. This was probably due to the performances and goodrecreation of the times.Sean Hayes does not look like Jerry Lewis but made a good stab atrecreating his manic energy and routines. Only in the dramatic scenesdid I feel a lack of insight in his performance.Jeremy Northam convinced admirably with his laid back Dean Martin,unfortunately he had little material to work with script wise but gotacross Dino's couldn't care less attitude which rolled along for yearswith Lewis until he could take no more.I think the fault with the movie was that it was made when only one ofthe duo has passed on, so perhaps there were Lewis traits that had tobe down graded at the expense of Martin. However to be fair they didshow some of Lewis's control freakery and joke stealing that led to thefinal breakup.Still for a TV movie it was definitely above average, these 2 starswere huge successes in their partnership days, and each went on to showtheir own brand of showbiz genius as they went their separate waysafterwards. In the end a rather sad story.

ultra_falcon 2012-05-23 16:28:11

The guy who played Dino

Great actor don't get me wrong, but he hardly sounds like Dean when hetalks. He's pretty good a lip syncing. I saw him in NYC once...Either way they should of gotten Joe Montegna for Dean, being that he'sportrayed Dino in a movie already and Brad Garrett should of done thatlittle appearance by Jackie Gleason, also being that he played JackieGleason on "Gleason" that CBS movie. Casting, with the exception ofJerry Lewis, wasn't that good. The movie itself was good though. I especially like how they portrayedlast show. The way that slowed everything down a bit and had "Oh Marie"playing, which is good song too. And I like that song "Side by side" they sung at the end as well.

rsyung 2012-05-23 01:26:59

Comedy through a nostalgic haze

I found this made-for-tv biopic somewhat of a let-down. While not exactlyaMartin and Lewis fan, I can appreciate the chemistry between them, and theunfettered physical comedy of Lewis. I didn't really see it here.Everythingseemed so labored. Another problem, admittedly not of the movie's doing,isthat it's so hard to do convincing re-creations of their routines whentheyare still so visible on film. Such re-creations pale in comparison to thereal thing, and unfortunately, they made up 75% of this film. In spite ofopinions to the contrary, I think it would have been best to concentrateonthe private lives and behind-the-scenes machinations of the team insteadofmaking them obligatory backstory. If we cut through the nostalgic haze,"Martin and Lewis" can be seen for what it is--a poor attempt to bringbackan example of the Golden Age of Comedy, to a medium where good comedy,slapstick or otherwise, is in such short supply.

J.E. Miller 2012-05-22 14:30:46

As fine as a performance as I've seen on tv

T.V. Movies are rarely as noteworthy as those we see on the silverscreen,this collaboration is an exception. Sean Hayes depicted Jerry Lewis to atee, and if he doesn't garner an Emmy nomination for this, then I decreetheEmmys are fixed. Jeremy Northam also gave a stellar performance as thestoicDean Martin. If you enjoy a good biographical epic, then this picture isdefinitely one to see.

Red66 2012-05-18 08:41:47

Nearly unwatchable TV biopic

I was very excited to see this TV film that employs the talents of JeremyNortham and Sean Hayes. What a let down! The story is told in such aconnectthe dots TV movie sort of way that I felt like I had seen it before.JeremyNortham has a hammy good time playing Dean Martin. And while I neverbelievethat he IS Dean Martin, Northam does create a character that isinterestingto watch for about 45 minutes. Hayes, unfortunately, shows that, while agifted physical comedian, does not have the chops to create a complexdramatic characterization. And, although his courage to tackle this partmust be acknowledged, some of his recreations of Lewis routines arepainfulto watch. His need to prove to us that he is more than Jack McFarland issoclear here and he doesn't look to be having an once of fun. Whilewatchingthis movie, I kept thinking about the worried conversations that musthavebeen going on in the editing room. Best to steer clear of thisone.

ScaredStiff85 2012-05-17 19:25:37

good film...good acting

i saw this film when it first premired on T.V. i thought it was a lotbetterthan some of the reviews i had read about it. the acting i thought wasflawless. Sean Hayes proved to me that he is more than Jack on "Will andGrace." he is the only actor who looks anything like Jerry Lewis. ithoughtJeremy Northam did a great job as Dean Martin. at first i didn't think helooked anything like him but i watched it again and i can see he does. therest of the cast did a wonderful job as well. so all in all goodfilm...goodacting. 8 out of 10

halmp-1 2012-05-13 05:13:56

the true story of the post-war comedy team

Save for a slight alteration of a fact in the genesis of the Dean Martin andJerry Lewis saga, this made-for-television bio-pic is perfect in its storyand depictions. The alteration concerns how the duo got together for whatwould be the triggering of their memorable 10-year partnership. The filmshows Lewis, about to bomb himself out of his engagement at the 500 Club inAtlantic City, phoning Martin's (first) agent, Lou Perry. Lewis specificallyasks him to send Dean to reprise their earlier-shown, spur-of-the-moment,stage collaboration (at the Havana-Madrid Club). In reality, it was thecompassionate Perry who, upon receiving a frantic call from a sobbing JerryLewis asking for help, decides to send Dean Martin to the rescue. The resultcorrectly is shown to be alchemic, and, for at first better-then-worse, theMartin and Lewis team is truly born. In 1973, Arthur Marx penned anoutstanding bio-novel about the duo, "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime." AsMarx, the writers/producers of this film are admirably unafraid to presentfull character profiles of Martin and Lewis. As human beings, the performerssometimes glaringly left much to be desired. Jeremy Northam and Sean Hayes,as Dean and Jerry, give excellent performances, as do Paula Gale and KateLevering as Martin's first and second wives, Betty and Jeanne. This is afirst-rate production, not the least of its values is its capturing of thepost-war cultural flavor of the period in which the Martin and Lewis tandemflourished.

Murphy-2 2012-05-12 20:35:21

This is awful!

Okay, tell me the truth....the people who have written these glowingreviews are complete Martin & Lewis fanatics. This is one of the worst"true" stories ever made. Sean Hayes stinks as Jerry Lewis. He doesn'tlook like Jerry, can't move like Jerry, and sure can't mug like Jerry.And Jeremy Northam as Dean Martin? Please...Dean was cool...Northam isnot. Not only doesn't he look like Dean, sound like Dean, or move likeDean, he plays him with no charm or style. His acting is worse thanSean Hayes and thats sinking pretty low. Anyone who can rate this movieabove a 1 either never saw the real Martin & Lewis or is a completefan. I like Martin & Lewis movies....but by the REAL guys, not thesefakes.

Andrew Buechler 2012-05-04 15:24:58

A great movie, and also accurate.

This movie was so great. Sean Hayes played Jerry Lewis almostflawlessly.The story was accurate and the movie was well made. Though they only had2hours to get the whole story, it was almost all in there. The mostimportant parts were covered. This movie was AWESOME. I hope they putiton DVD.

millsierocks 2012-05-04 03:37:34

martin and lewis rocks

this movie was an excellent bio pic about the martin and lewis duo. themovie was well planned and was so close to actual events that reallyhappened. nothing in that movie was made up. jerry lewis was played bysean hayes. hayes delivered a wonderful performance and was very muchlike his character jack mcfarland from will and grace. the resemblancedid not hurt his performance at all though. jeremy northam who playeddean martin was an excellent choice for the role but i think a littlemore practice with miming the words to the songs would not hurt. all inall i highly regard this movie as it is so close to the truth unlikesome movies which twist the truth so much. i rate this movie veryhighly because the story line was 100% true and the acting was veryconvincing. on a scale of 1 to 10 i rate this a 10. it was a very goodmovie

oscar_44 2012-04-30 19:58:23

Wonder what Dean would have thought

It's difficult to judge the accuracy of a movie when you know one of theprofiles isn't around to defend himself. I am not a Jerry Lewis fan andthis movie did nothing to change that opinion. Although, Sean Hayes waswonderful.

2012-04-30 13:39:21

The life of the comedy pair, plays out as a tragedy

Actors (so runs one school of thought) are miserably malleable peoplewho'sprincipal talent is their ability to simply morph into their stagecharacters. Look no further than this movie, for a prime example ofsuch.Martin and Lewis (ably played by Northam and Hayes), shallow folk withlittle real talent who through happenstance fortuitously hit the showbusiness equivalent of the lottery, cannot handle relationships, theirsuccess, or each other. In the end, the pair's life of comedy plays outasa tragedy.

babcockt 2012-04-26 01:32:10

Actors outshine medium...

More and more, as the evolution of television leaps forward with suchgroundbreaking shows as 24, Band of Brothers and 6 Feet Under, we aretaughthow antiquated and limited your basic TV Movie has become. No betterexamplehere in MARTIN AND LEWIS which in years past would shine as your basicmovie-of-the-week. But now, with those shining comparisons, it seems likealow-budget, commercial-laden highlight reel of a much longer and complextale.That being said, the one thing that does rise above it's medium here isthetalents of both Northam and Hayes. Jeremy Northam has a twinkle in his eyeas he dances around the murmuring voice cadences of Dean Martin (who seemsto be positing that Martin sounded drunk even when he wasn't...if that ispossible). I don't know another actor who could so effortlessly playMartin's playful masculinity. Unfortunately the actor is forced to go from0-60 because he must portray divorce, conflict and then playful boozer inscenes back-to-back. The same can be said of Hayes ,who has the unenviablejob of homaging an actor still alive and is under that scrutiny (with theapparent well-wishing Lewis on-hand). Both actors live up to their spot-oncasting but the production seems bogged down by it's limited time-lengthandby the length of ground it needs to cover (which it wearily tries tocompensate for by endless scrolls of posters portraying the countlessfilmsthese two did together).All in all, a great effort but, once again, it leaves one asking..."Whydidn't they do this on HBO?" which is less a criticism of the movie thanofnetwork programming altogether.

Amanda 2012-04-25 09:59:58

One-sided story filled with inaccuracies, mostly in regards to Dean Martin

Let me state from the start that this film certainly could have beenworse. With that said, it was far from a stellar offering. The actorthat played Jerry Lewis did a good job. However, the actor that playedDean Martin didn't looked at all like him. But that's just casting. Theproblems with this film is much deeper. To make it brief, the film is aone-sided story filled with inaccuracies, mostly in regards to DeanMartin, his life, his attitudes, and his contributions to, and feelingabout, the Martin & Lewis partnership. It's easy to see why Jerry Lewisliked this film. To be fair, the film does touch on Lewis' jealousiesof Martin and his need to always be the center of attention. However,it only does so in passing, and avoids really getting into the hugerole Lewis' jealousies and bad attitude played in breaking up the team.Furthermore, its portrayal of Dean Martin, and his personal life, isriddled with clichés. Anyone who knows the least thing about the realDean Martin - not the roles he played in his films or his nightclub act- can easily point out where the film substitutes fiction for truthbecause it makes a more interesting story, and makes Lewis come outlooking better. In short, if you're looking for the truth, this filmdoes not deliver.

jtpaladin 2012-04-19 20:21:18

Anti-Dean Martin film is a let-down

I think a better title for "Martin & Lewis" would have been, "Dean Martinwas nothing without Jerry Lewis". Sadly, this was not true.It's no surprise that Lewis said he loved this film. At the same time,I'msure if Martin were alive today, he would feel he had just been roasted,ina bad way.It seems as though this film was actually written by Jerry Lewis or byfansof Lewis angry at Dean Martin. The portrayal of Dean Martin in this filmasan alcoholic, philandering, friend of mobsters is wholly inaccurate. ThisTV-movie would have you believe that without Lewis, Martin would havegonedown in flames early in his career. Again, this is simply not true. DeanMartin was already a success when Lewis came along with sole comicroutine.Further proof against this fallacy is the fact that Martin went on, afterthe dissolution of the partnership, to a very successful career in filmsandmusic.The real story as to why this partnership broke-up? Jerry Lewis was aninsecure, money-grubbing, control-freak that would steal Martin's linesandwould be jealous of any attention Martin would get. Does this TV-filmalludeto any of this? To its' credit, yes, it does, but the films' writers direneed to try and show a balanced reason for why the comedy team broke upmoves past these issues far too fast and attacks Martin in ways that havenoconnection to reality.The worst part of all this is that I didn't even find myself laughing atanyof the "comic" bits that were in this film. I think if you're going tomakea film about one of the most successful comedy teams in history, youshouldat least make some of it funny.

blc2235 2012-04-19 09:47:28

Good acting-believable time-piece.

Biopics can be a dangerous and tricky business, especially when actorsportray other actors. In this case all was well. The acting was good andthesets were well planned. Sean Hayes was perfectly cast as the zany JerryLewis. Jeremy Northam, on the same hand, had that dangerous charm thattheearly Dean Martin was known for. However, his lip-synching wasoccasionallyfar off and when speaking he often sounded distractedly more likeHumphreyBogart than Dean Martin.Overall, the energy and the mood was well maintained, and we got to seeinside the lives of two wonderful talents from the past.Hats off!

DaveZ 2012-04-17 09:29:31

cliches from beginning to end

The film is bio-pic cliches from beginning to end, but it reeled me in andkept me watching. There are definite parallels to the Jackie Gleason tvmovie which aired just a few weeks ago (unhappy, womanizing, drunk makesgood in 50's show business); ironically, Gleason shows up at the end ofthisstory.I was never able to stop seeing Sean Hayes as `Jack' (from `Will andGrace')instead of as Lewis, although that is not to say that he did aparticularlybad job in this role. Jeremy Northam used a very strange accent as DeanMartin, which I found particularly distracting; he did a lousy joblip-synching to the songs, and for some reason, most of the remainingdialogue seemed dubbed, too.I never would have guessed that pre-Martin Lewis was `doing AndyKaufman' --25 years before Andy Kaufman did it.

Carissa 2012-04-16 17:34:12

Really Good

I have just finished watching Martin and Lewis. This movie was prettyaccurateto what I had expected. Sean Hayes ("Will and Grace")did an excellent jobacting as Jerry Lewis. I'm to happy about the guy that played Dean. Hedid agood job in all its just he didn't look that much like him, but at leasthedid the job. All and all I say I would give this 9/10