THE LOVE GOD?

(director/writer: Nat Hiken; cinematographer: William Margulies; editor: Sam E. Waxman; music: Vic Mizzy; cast: Don Knotts (Abner Audubon Peacock), Edmond O’Brien (Osborn Tremaine), Anne Francis (Lisa LaMonica ), James Gregory (Darrell Evans Hughes), Maureen Arthur (Evelyn Tremaine), Maggie Peterson (Rose Ellen Wilkerson), Jessyn Fax (Miss Love); Runtime: 101; MPAA Rating: R; producer: Edward J. Montagne; Universal; 1969)
“A goofy, dispiriting, worthless Don Knotts slapstick comedy.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A goofy, dispiriting, worthless Don Knotts slapstick comedy. Popular TV director Nat Hiken, of Sgt. Bilko fame, keeps the lame comedy middling, while trying to give the juvenile Knotts’ antics less of a formulaic look than usual.

Don Knotts is the meek publisher of a bird-watcher’s magazine, who is convinced by Edmund O’Brien, the publisher of an ailing girlie ‘zine, to let him be in charge of publishing his ailing bird ‘zine. After sending the ornithologist on a wild goose chase to SA to photograph rare birds, the slimy O’Brien turns the bird magazine into a girlie one. O’Brien defeats a lawsuit against it and that results in notoriety and success for the ‘zine. On the return of Knotts, he’s shocked to discover he’s been mistaken for a sex symbol– like in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy image.

There was just nothing funny about the low-brow satire.If you’re that horny, read Playboy.

REVIEWED ON 3/22/2016 GRADE: C-