Product Details

• Actors: Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0006B4MHU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,005 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Little Comedy!, October 27, 2010

By 

J. Schmidt "Classics Caper" (The Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PHFFFT! (DVD)

Thanks to Sony/Columbia Pictures for deciding to release this great Jack Lemmon film as a stand alone movie since up until now it was only available in the The Jack Lemmon Film Collection (Phffft! / Operation Mad Ball / The Notorious Landlady / Under the Yum Yum Tree / Good Neighbor Sam). If you are a Jack Lemmon fan and have the extra money, I would highly recommend investing in that set as all the movies in it are truly worth watching. That said, "Phffft!" is a great 50's comedy that revolves around a divorcing couple (played by Lemmon and the wonderful Judy Holliday) who may or may not still have feelings for each other. The film is particularly notable as it is one of the first films to officially introduce Kim Novak to the big screen who here plays a Marilyn Monroe type vixen smitten with Lemmon (Novak had already starred in Columbia's "Pushover" earlier the same year). In addition, the script is pretty witty, and there is one scene which features a great dance scene with Lemmon and Holliday, If this DVD is anything like the previous release in the Lemmon Box Set, you can expect an excellent transfer in the correct anamorphic aspect ratio, and english/french audio and subtitles. As far as special features, the previous release included the theatrical trailer, photo galleries, and an enjoyable 25 min. episode from the Ford All-Star Theater called "Marriageable Male," so hopefully those will all carry over to this release as well. This is a fun little film to see, and I highly recommend it to all those who enjoy a good, old, classic comedy.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So-so comedy with two great actors, June 12, 2005

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Phffft! (VHS Tape)

A slow-moving, dry-humored, rather predictable comedy about a divorced couple who get back together after they realize how compatible they actually are with each other. It's one of the first feature roles for a young Jack Lemmon (who already had his sad-sack schtick pretty well polished...) and the not-quite-so-ditzy, not-quite-so-dumb blonde bombshell, Judy Holliday, in one of her lesser roles. It's not a great film, but it is fun to see the two of them, also interesting to see how consistently she upstages Lemmon, right from the start. (Originally released in 1954.)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Divorce, American-style, June 22, 2009

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Phffft! (VHS Tape)

PHFFFT! is an oddly titled, quaint romantic comedy that handles the sticky subject of divorce most delicately.

As Walter Winchell's gossip column reports, the Traceys, Nina (Holliday) and Robert (Lemmon) are 'Phffft!" after an eight-year marriage. Nina cites "incompatibility" and "mental cruelty" as grounds only because they're the most commonly used reasons.

Robert moves in with Navy buddy Charlie Nelson (Carter) while Nina's mom (Gear) influences her daughter by redecorating the bedroom and making unsolicited suggestions.

Concerned for his friend's social well-being, Charlie sets Robert up with gorgeous college girl Janis (Novak as a Monroe type), but when they're alone Robert freezes, confesses to being depressed and sends Janis home.

He would try dating her again, but first some mambo lessons (Nina meanwhile is learning the same dance at Arthur Murray's). Robert takes Janis to a club for dinner and dancing. Nina is by coincidence also there with a co-worker. The two couples mambo and somehow Nina and Robert end up together. Their flamboyant dance moves clear the floor.

The next day, Robert finds a pretext for visiting his ex, but they quarrel and he leaves. When Robert later learns that pal Charlie is with Nina at his old Westchester home, he dashes off to confront the cad. After quietly entering the house, Robert picks up the ringing phone and hears Nina tell her mom that she kicked Charlie out. Then Nina laments how she never should've divorced her husband. It WAS the 1950s after all. You know how the story ends.

(Watch for Head Mousketeer Jimmie Dodd in a cab driver cameo.)

"Phffft!" is available on DVD as part of THE JACK LEMMON FILM COLLECTION.

Related item:

Jack Lemmon's first credited big screen role came a few months before "Phffft" was released. He again appeared with Judy Holliday in George Cukor's IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU. (VHS) (DVD)

Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(6.3) Phffft! (1954) - Judy Holliday/Jack Lemmon/Jack Carter/Kim Novak/Luella Gear/Donald Randolph (uncredited: Jimmie Dodd/Merry Anders)