For Pete’s Sake

Directed by Peter Yates, For Pete’s Sake follows Barbra Streisand’s Henrietta Robbins as she’s forced to take on a series of demeaning jobs after borrowing $3000 to help her husband (Michael Sarrazin’s Pete) buy lucrative pork belly futures. The increasingly less-than-subtle, over-the-top bent of For Pete’s Sake‘s comedic scenarios ensures that it grows more and more entertaining as it unfolds, as the movie’s first half, for the most part, boasts a low-key feel that’s reflected in its emphasis on Henrietta and Pete’s admittedly compelling relationship – with the film’s early success due almost entirely to the effectiveness of its stars’ completely charming and agreeable work (and their palpable chemistry together). It’s not until Streisand’s character begins working those aforementioned demeaning jobs that For Pete’s Sake begins to morph into a laugh-out-loud funny piece of work, as Yates, working from Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin’s screenplay, does an effective job of infusing much of the movie’s second-act segments with an unabashedly madcap feel that’s impossible to resist. (There is, for example, an absurdly broad yet undeniably hilarious interlude detailing Henrietta’s exploits as a cattle rustler.) By the time the appreciatively larger-than-life finale rolls around, For Pete’s Sake has cemented its place as a completely satisfying screwball comedy that benefits substantially from Streisand’s go-for-broke performance.

*** out of ****

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