Pillow Talk

Pillow Talk is a fun movie, but some aspects of the film have aged more poorly than others. As a romantic comedy, it largely works as a comedy but is lacking in the romance department, at least for a modern audience.

The film’s plot revolves around a man and a woman that share a party line. This is the first place that the film feels dated. How many people know what a party line even is? If you are familiar with the concept of sharing a line on a home phone, you can use context clues to figure out what it all means. If your whole understanding of phones is cellphones, you might find it a bit harder. The two people sharing this party line are a man, a lothario music composer played by Rock Hudson, and a woman, a punctilious interior decorator played by Doris Day. Initially, their interactions are all on the phone, where they take an immediate dislike to each other. However, she is being courted, unsuccessfully, by the composer’s friend and once the composer sees her in person, he decides he has to have her.

On a technical level, the script is tightly written, clever, and good for a laugh. There is plenty of smart word play and subtle double entendre to make the dialogue sing. The interwoven character relationships, from the girl to the friend to each of the lothario’s identities, make for some amazingly funny moments of dramatic irony.

There is also an inherent simplicity to the construction of the piece, with a heavy emphasis on situation, dialogue, and character work, that reminds me of an above average comedy stage play, in all the best ways, despite not being a stage to screen adaptation. Yes, the film benefits from the grander production values afforded a Hollywood production, but the dialogue and character always take up the lion’s share of the attention.

Speaking of character, my favorite isn’t either of the leads, but rather Rock Hudson’s multi-millionaire, multi-divorced friend that begins the film in love with Doris Day. He steals every scene he is in and has many of the funniest bits. Maybe it is because I rate the comedy higher than the romance and his whole purpose is delivering comedy, but he is just so charming, funny, and well meaning despite his obvious faults.

Where the movie doesn’t really win me over is with its romance. The actors are likable enough and the relationship isn’t without chemistry but so much of the film is predicated on lies and deception that it makes it hard to root for their relationship to work out, which is usually a prerequisite to making these kinds of romantic stories work. For anyone who finds great joy in picking apart You’ve Got Mail for how manipulative and evil Tom Hanks’ character is for how he woos Meg Ryan, this film is going to make you blow a gasket. However, I would argue that the film stands in a long tradition with She’s All That and How To Lose I Guy in 10 Days, where one or more people starts into a relationship with the wrong motivations but finds themselves catching real feelings along the way. There is plenty about this film’s romance that I don’t think totally works but this, the dual personality trickery, doesn’t top my list.

Rather, it is how incompatible they are, regardless of the deceit, that makes them as a potential couple not work for me. He is fairly slimy throughout and she is way too good for him. He barely grows or changes as a character, other than being open to marriage in a way he was categorically against before, which makes you question if he has really done enough to atone for his past behavior, let alone show himself to be someone worthy of her as a partner. The ending doesn’t really offer up the satisfactory conclusion that it thinks it does, as him being willing to give up his bachelor lifestyle isn’t enough to feel like he has earned his happy ending. As such, I found the film enjoyable but the romantic payoff underwhelming.

Would Recommend: If you are interested in some light entertainment with a decently clever script.

Would Not Recommend: If you are overly particular about the subtextual relationships in romantic comedies.