The defence The Popcorn Loyalist
“It owes the canon nothing.”
The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.
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How to Murder Your Wife
Comedy · 1965
Stanley Ford is a successful cartoonist and happily single. That is, until he gets drunk at a friend's bachelor party and impulsively proposes to the beautiful woman who pops out of the cake. Once sober, he regrets the decision, but she won't agree to a divorce. Stanley jokingly vents his frustrations in his comic strip by having the main character kill his wife. But when his actual wife goes missing and Stanley is arrested for her murder, he has a change of heart.
Movie details
How to Murder Your Wife
“Bring The Little Woman...Maybe She'll Die Laughing!”
1965 Comedy 1h 58m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.4 / 10
Community rating
Stanley Ford is a successful cartoonist and happily single. That is, until he gets drunk at a friend's bachelor party and impulsively proposes to the beautiful woman who pops out of the cake. Once sober, he regrets the decision, but she won't agree to a divorce. Stanley jokingly vents his frustrations in his comic strip by having the main character kill his wife. But when his actual wife goes missing and Stanley is arrested for her murder, he has a change of heart.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over How to Murder Your Wife?
For the defence
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Big-Idea Head
“You watch with your brain, not your gut.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Where it lives
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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Richard Quine
Written by
George Axelrod
Jack Lemmon
Stanley Ford
Virna Lisi
Mrs. Ford
Terry-Thomas
Charles
Eddie Mayehoff
Harold Lampson
Claire Trevor
Edna
Sidney Blackmer
Judge Blackstone
Max Showalter
Tobey Rawlins
Court is in session
Put How to Murder Your Wife on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Big-Idea Head
“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”
It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.