Her Pick 1960s: The Apartment

The only thing I knew about this movie was that it was about a guy who let people use his apartment for *secret* meetings and that I had played the "Theme from The Apartment" in piano lessons.

When I think of Jack Lemmon I think of Grumpy Old Men, haha.

And I really don't have any knowledge of Shirley MacLaine aside from her recent stint on Downton Abbey.

This turned out to be my favorite movie so far.

Jack Lemmon reminds me a lot of Jim Carrey.  I know it should probably be the other way around, but I knew of Jim Carrey first.  I think it's his mannerisms.  Jim Carrey is a more exaggerated version, of course.

C. C. Baxter, (Lemmon), is a man trying to move up in his job at an insurance company.  He gets kind of pushed into and bribed into letting these executives use his apartment for meetups with their mistresses.  A pretty risque storyline for a 60s movie.  I mean, I obviously haven't seen tons of movies from this era, but I imagine it must have not been on the must see for a lot of decent people, ha ha!

In spite of the plot, it really isn't a tastelessly done movie.  It's funny how they are able to get their points across and you know exactly what's going on, without a bunch of raunchy and crude humor.

Fred MacMurray (of My Three Sons) plays the "big" boss man, who also finally gets to Baxter about the use of his apartment.

 I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but it's a good story and has a much more disturbing story arc than what you might expect from this subject matter.

Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon are definitely the best actors in the movie.  I really did not enjoy Fred MacMurray in the least.  I really don't think he did a very good job acting at all.

His character isn't likeable, but he doesn't even do a good job at that.

Jack Lemmon's humor is well done.  He plays the goofy and awkward bachelor, yet also pulls off the serious just as well.

Shirley MacLaine is believable in her character. Her serious scenes are well done in my opinion.

This movie is funny, sad, a little tragic, and happy.

It's a pretty good movie when you take a "get a snack" break about a half hour before the end and have really no idea how it will all tie up.  Not in bad way, but because there are many plausible endings and it isn't a predictable and boring ending.

The end is satisfying, but not in a happily ever after kind of way.

I really liked it.  I give it a 9 out of 10.