My brief review of the film

Rating: Null/10 (5 July 2005)

It is easy to see why Mike Nichols won the Best Director Oscar for this film. It is very well directed with some shots brilliantly set up in terms of the spatial relations between characters. But, despite being well directed, this is a far from perfect overall film. The final quarter is very poorly put together. The second "romance" is hardly ever developed, and towards the end it all spirals out frantically and messily into predictable territory. The film is also hurt by its soundtrack. The songs are nice but are played far too often, and when played, they are played in excess. One particular sequences stands out where Hoffman is going about his daily business while on the soundtrack a song is heard. The song plays for its full duration, then ends, and then another song begins. It just shows a too heavily reliance on external material. The photography is also uncomfortably close up at times, and all adult characters are quite two-dimensional. In spite of its problems, the film still comes through. It has some very well edited sequences, both Hoffman and Bancroft have a number of fine moments, and Nichols is great in the director's chair. This one of best films that I have seen from 1967; it simply just is not a flawless classic.