The Honeymoon Machine

Directed by Richard Thorpe, The Honeymoon Machine follows Steve McQueen’s Lt. Fergie Howard as he and Jim Hutton’s Jason Eldridge concoct a scheme to use a supercomputer to predict winning numbers on a casino’s roulette wheel – with complications ensuing after Fergie finds himself falling for a superior officer’s young daughter (Brigid Bazlen’s Julie). There’s ultimately never a point at which it isn’t completely obvious that The Honeymoon Machine‘s been adapted from a stage play, as filmmaker Thorpe, working from George Wells’ screenplay, delivers a talky and mostly momentum-free endeavor that seems to unfolds almost entirely within the confines of Howard and Eldridge’s expansive hotel room – with the far-from-eventful atmosphere ensuring that the movie is, at the outset, devoid of compelling, attention-grabbing attributes. It’s clear, then, that the film benefits from a breezy (and comparatively enthralling) midsection based around a fairly irresistible wacky misunderstanding, with the effectiveness of this stretch heightened by McQueen’s typically charming work as the fast-talking central character (and it’s clear, as well, that the periphery cast, including Dean Jagger and Jack Weston, provides able support around the picture’s margins). The distressingly tedious climax, which attempts but fails to achieve a fast, frenetic feel, results in a final half hour that couldn’t possibly be less interesting or involving, thus obliterating the good will established by the second act and cementing The Honeymoon Machine‘s place as a rather forgettable misfire.

** out of ****