Producer-director David Swift also co-adapted Jack Finney's novel about a suburban divorcée outside San Francisco who involves her neighbors in a hare-brained scheme to win an inheritance worth $15M: she has to be happily married in order to receive the settlement, requiring the husband next door to pose as her spouse. Trouble looms when spies set up camp across the street and the woman's ex-husband suddenly turns up wanting her back. Although far too long at 2hrs-10mns, Swift takes a remarkably cogent approach to the slapstick scenario, and the grounded, terrific players keep things colorful while skillfully averting 'wackiness'. Jack Lemmon's advertising executive (with natty spectacles) is a wonderfully low-keyed schnook, and the star's comic confusion never boils over into bellowing territory. As Jack's wife, Dorothy Provine is the perfect match for this Lemmon characterization (she's a good sport throughout). Edward G. Robinson's role as a dairy magnate is tiresome (he's like a guest extra in a TV sitcom), and the material slips into contrivances at about the halfway mark. Still, this script, while overworked by its three writers, has some surprises: it shows a keen ear for dialogue and comes up with a handful of bright ideas, although some judicious editing was certainly called for. **1/2 from ****
Review of Good Neighbor Sam
