Micki & Maude

Micki & Maude
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Blake Edwards
Written by	Jonathan Reynolds
Produced by	Tony Adams
Starring	Dudley Moore Amy Irving Ann Reinking Richard Mulligan George Gaynes Wallace Shawn
Cinematography	Harry Stradling Jr.
Edited by	Ralph E. Winters
Music by	Lee Holdridge
Production company	Hollywood Road Films
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	December 21, 1984 (1984-12-21)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15.1 million
Box office	$26,200,000

Micki & Maude is a 1984 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Dudley Moore. It co-stars Tony Award-winning actress and dancer Ann Reinking as Micki and Amy Irving as Maude.

With the exception of appearances as herself, as in the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom in 2005, this was Reinking's last acting role in a film.

In India, this film was remade in Tamil as Rettai Vaal Kuruvi starring Mohan, Archana, and Rathika Sarathkumar, and directed by Balu Mahindra. It was also remade in Malayalam as Paavakoothu (1990) starring Jayaram, Parvathy and Ranjini. Tamil version was dubbed in Telugu as Rendu Thokala Pitta.

Plot

Rob Salinger (Dudley Moore) is an overworked tabloid television reporter. He is happily married to Micki (Ann Reinking), a lawyer who is a candidate to become a judge. Rob wants a child badly, but Micki is reluctant due to a previous miscarriage and wanting to focus on her career. On an assignment, Rob interviews a young cellist, Maude Guillory (Amy Irving). He is smitten with her and begins a relationship with her. When she becomes pregnant, the two decide to get married, with Maude and her father, professional wrestler Barkhas Guillory (Hard Boiled Haggerty), planning the wedding.

Rob prepares to confess to Micki and get a divorce. But before he can reveal his affair with Maude, Micki stuns him by announcing that she, too, is pregnant. She confesses that she initially planned on having an abortion as pregnancy would interfere with her career and not tell him, but realized how much she wants to have a family with him. However, she cannot exert or stress herself too much as it would endanger her and the baby. Rob becomes a bigamist. With his television boss and best friend Leo (Richard Mulligan) covering for him, he sees one wife during the daytime and the other at night, using work as an excuse. He gets away with it until the fates collide: Micki and Maude going into labor at the same time, in the same hospital, on the same floor.

The two women end up becoming friends, but realizing that Rob had been dishonest with them, they ban Rob from their lives and the lives of the children. Rob follows them around, spying on both families from a distance. Eventually, Rob reconciles with both Micki and Maude, though it is not clear if the two women are aware he has reconciled with the other. The film ends with the women pursuing their careers: Micki as a judge presiding in a courtroom, Maude playing cello in a symphony orchestra. The film closes with a shot of Rob in a park years later, with two babies and his six other children he has had over the years with Micki and Maude.

Cast

• Ann Reinking as Micki Guillory
• Amy Irving as Maude Salinger
• Dudley Moore as Rob Salinger
• Richard Mulligan as Leo
• George Gaynes as Dr. Glztszki
• Wallace Shawn as Dr. Fibel
• Hard Boiled Haggerty as Barkhas Guillory
• John Pleshette as Hap Ludlow
• Lu Leonard as Nurse Verbeck
• Roger Rose as the Newscaster
• Emma Walton Hamilton as Maude’s nurse
• Andre the Giant as himself

Production

The script was written by playwright Jonathan Reynolds. "I initially thought that the guy would be perceived as terrible," said Reynolds. "The biggest trick was to make him not be a swine. If you'd had Errol Flynn or Warren Beatty in that role you would've been in big trouble." So Reynolds stressed the man's devotion to children and to make it clear he was very much in love with both wives.

Blake Edwards was not originally available to direct. When Edwards left City Heat he moved on to Micki and Maude. "I feel I do my best work with him," said Moore. "He lets me go. He doesn't force me to feel that I'm not doing the right thing."

The original version was set in New York and Reynolds says it was "sort of a slam-bang farce, with a very zippy pace." The director, said Reynolds, made it "much sweeter", slowed the pace and introduced the idea of one wife having a wrestler father. Hard Boiled Haggerty, a professional wrestler, was subsequently cast as Micki's father, Barkhas Guillory, a father-in-law.

Along with Haggerty, the film features cameos from professional wrestlers Gene LeBell, Chief Jay Strongbow, Big John Studd, and André the Giant. Although the main cast also includes Wallace Shawn, it would not be until The Princess Bride in which he and André would work together onscreen.

Amy Irving later stated, "The role was difficult for me. It's not my forte to do comedy. You feel so exposed when you first try to do it, afraid that you'll appear ridiculous."

Filming began in April 1984. A month of shooting was left to do when Edwards fell ill with mononucleosis. Lou Antonio was brought in to complete the film and was credited as an Executive Producer. Nonetheless, the film came $1.6 million under budget.

Release

Micki and Maude premiered on December 2, 1984 at Cinema III in New York City.

Reception

"The last twenty minutes of “Micki + Maude,” as the two pregnant women move inexorably forward on their collision course, represents a kind of filmmaking that is as hard to do as anything you’ll ever see on a screen. The timing has to be flawless. So does the logic: One loose end, and the inevitability of a slapstick situation is undermined. Edwards and Moore are working at the top of their forms here, and the result is a pure, classic slapstick that makes “Micki + Maude” a real treasure." — Roger Ebert

The film was a box office disappointment, although it grossed $26.2 million against a budget of $15.1 million. The critical reception was mixed to positive. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 70% based on 10 reviews, with an average score of 5.60/10. On Metacritic, the film received a score of 64 based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Awards and nominations

In 1985, Moore won the Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical. The film was also Golden Globe-nominated for Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical.

Home video

Micki and Maude was released on VHS in 1985 and 1989 by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video and re-released in 1993 by Columbia TriStar Home Video. The DVD was released on November 3, 2003 by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.

External links

• Micki & Maude at AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Micki & Maude at the TCM Movie Database
• Micki & Maude at Box Office Mojo
• Micki & Maude at IMDb
• Micki & Maude at Rotten Tomatoes