Under the Yum Yum Tree

A sleezy landlord (Jack Lemon) who only rents to pretty young and single women accidently rents to a couple who a trying some modern relationship plan....for the early 60s. They plan to get married after college and hope to avoid getting a divorce in the future. Thus. They decide to live together, without any physical intimacy, to see if they are compatible with everyday life stuff. Jack Lemon is lurking around their personal life. Will he try to sneak the woman away from the boyfriend or give him advice about trying to survive this new arrangement without succumbing to hanky panky. All the topics are dripping with humor and some physical comedy. Good for a few corny laughs.

It's been so many years since I've seen this, but I remember watching it as a teenager and thinking -- these are grownups here. *I'm* old enough to know what's going on. And this isn't funny. It reminds me of Matt Groening's Paradox:

* The French are funny.

* Sex is funny.

* Comedies are funny.

Yet, NO FRENCH SEX COMEDY IS FUNNY. Replace "French" with "Jack Lemmon", and, had you stumbled onto this film as your first and only exposure to that otherwise great actor, you might be tempted to banish Lemmon from your living room forever.

Ben Mankiewicz noted on TCM that Jack Lemmon was not happy being assigned this film version of a semi-hit Broadway sex comedy from 1960, and you can see why. As the libidinous landlord of a California complex who rents out only to nubile young things, he's playing an absolutely awful man, and for all his comic finesse, he's charmless and irritating. In Lawrence Roman's oversexed plot (he adapted his play with director David Swift), Lemmon's Hogan mistakenly rents a beautiful one bedroom (for $75 a month; oh, to be in 1963) to undergrad Carol Lynley, who plans to share it platonically with her fiancé, Dean Jones, who had played this part on Broadway. And from there it's one long smirk, with Lynley wiggling her fanny in short-short outfits, Jones bemoaning how difficult a no-sex policy is, and Lemmon mugging and being thoroughly unpleasant. Edie Adams, as Lemmon's ex and Lynley's aunt, is a pro, and Paul Lynde, as a horny-for-young-girls (ha) gardener, and Imogene Coca, as his disapproving wife, wring what laughs they can out of repellent material. If you want to know what '60s sex comedies were like, with endless jokes on will-she-won't- she-lose-her-virginity, this is a good example, typically over lit and supplemented with a cutesy Frank DeVol score. And Lynley and Jones are charming. But given the change in morality in intervening years, it looks it was made on another planet.

A skirt chaser manages an apartment complex in which all the residents are beautiful women. He regularly wines and dines the ladies, and is a charming, although rascally fellow. He brings in a new tenant and begins his game on her, much to the annoyance of her boyfriend. Most of the film is spent with the landlord trying to get into the new tenant's pants, and her boyfriend making every effort to keep him out. Fairly funny spoof on the California lifestyle.

Robin Austin (Carol Lynley) is concerned about her compatibility with boyfriend Dave Manning (Dean Jones). She convinces him to live together first. Her divorced aunt Dr. Irene Wilson (Edie Adams) is moving out of her apartment to move in with her boyfriend Dr. Charles Howard. Hogan (Jack Lemmon) is the womanizing neighbor landlord and he's more than eager to rent the place to Robin.

It's a little bit of fun especially with Lemmon. It could be funnier. It should be funnier. Lemmon and Jones could be a fun rivalry but her choice is never in doubt. Lynley is plenty pretty enough and she is fine. There is some attempt at 60's sex comedy humor but the bite isn't sharp enough and it doesn't bite deep enough. This may be edgy for a 50's sex comedy but feels safe for the 60's. For Lemmon fans, this is interesting to complete their list.