So Fine

Broadly-written and directed comedy about a professor of American literature who is forced into joining his manufacturer-father's dress business in New York City after his dad falls into debt with loan sharks. As an early-1970s Hollywood Lothario who first gained recognition on TV's "Peyton Place" as the resident heartthrob, and later parlayed that same appeal in the hit romantic-tragedy "Love Story", it is amazing that actor Ryan O'Neal was then typecast as a befuddled square who is nervous and unsure around women (this following his success in 1972's "What's Up, Doc?"). O'Neal doesn't really fit the role; his clumsiness isn't forced, yet the star doesn't have the innate grace for physical comedy (he's too self-conscious and heavy-spirited, and mock-innocent). The film has one great gag (split jeans), and a funny follow-up (a TV commercial promoting the jeans with see-through plastic on the rear), but none of the screwball hijinks in the boudoir raises a laugh. *1/2 from ****