How to Murder Your Wife (1965)

How to Murder Your Wife is a fizzy, big-city farce that takes a wildly absurd premise and spins it into a showcase for Jack Lemmon’s uniquely elastic comic genius—equal parts charm, panic, and perfectly timed exasperation. Director Richard Quine keeps the pace brisk and the tone breezy, mixing slick 1960s style with slapstick set pieces and a satirical jab at masculine ego, creative vanity, and the “bachelor fantasy” when it collides with real domestic life. Virna Lisi brings a luminous, playful presence that makes the movie’s culture-clash misunderstandings feel like romantic chaos rather than mean-spirited mockery, while Terry-Thomas is a delight as the dry, long-suffering valet. It is very much a product of its era—some attitudes have aged—so it won’t be for everyone, but if you’re in the mood for a fast, glossy, knowingly ridiculous comedy powered by a master at work, it’s an easy recommendation.

How to Murder Your Wife is aiming for a glossy, grown-up farce about a pampered bachelor blindsided by marriage, with Jack Lemmon’s physical comedy and Terry-Thomas’s valet snobbery doing most of the heavy lifting. The problem is the “joke” is pretty thin and increasingly sour: the premise leans hard on dated gender politics and treats the wife more like a prop than a person, so what once played as cheeky can now feel uncomfortable or simply tiresome. If you’re looking for a warm romantic comedy or anything resembling modern relationship dynamics, this will likely irritate you more than amuse you. Still, if you can tolerate the era’s attitudes and just want a slick mid-60s studio comedy with a few sharp bits and a charming Virna Lisi presence, it’s watchable in small doses.