THE THIEF WHO CAME TO DINNER (1973) *1/2 Sympathetic comedy built upon a foundation of situational ethics (we're all thieves, so there are no ethics) is unfortunately fraught with the feel of a television drama. Jacqueline Bisset is attractive, of course, and charming, but she'd not yet developed into the dramatic actress that she was to become. All of the cops and socialites and insurance adjusters and businessmen hate Ryan O'Neal just for living with her. It discourages them, even more than the fact that he's systematically ripping them off as he mocks them, and makes silly faces. Ryan has little excuse for letting this film be as dull as it is, at the age of 32 with several brilliant performances already behind him. What happened? He seems so addicted to his own self-perceived charm and diction that he resembles nothing more than Wile E. Coyote standing in the middle of the train track, looking the wrong way. Beneath it all he manages to do a little bit with some of the lines, that admittedly don't deserve much more, but the overall effect is that of watching a great man struggle with Quaalude addiction in the middle of a McDonaldland theme park. The music is putrid. A couple of the actors around the margins are fun, Gregory Sierra jumps most quickly to mind, but it was a star vehicle without much horsepower, and one that the stars couldn't jump-start.
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