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Customer Reviews of The Bellboy

A Beginning
This film occurred when Jerry Lewis needed a summer movie, Paramount wanted to release "Cinderfella", but Lewis insisted that wait for the Christmas season. Therefore, on a shoe-string budget he created his first masterpiece as actor, director, producer, and writer all on one film (with "The Ladies' Man", "The Nutty Professor", and other notables to follow). The film promises--from the beginning--to be about "fun", no more, no less. Indeed, it is pretty much a romp through sketches involving Stanley, a bellboy. Nevertheless, Lewis couldn't help added some social commentary, and the scene where he plays himself is among one of cinema's finest moments. Certainly not his best work--overall--but a great start to what is a lavish solo career.

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Whistle away your troubles...
Jerry Lewis's particular brand of slapstick humor, often sacrifices a coherent plot, in favor of over the top gags. Transitions, are often just cuts between the end of one joke, and the start of another. A well-written storyline, often doesn't seem very important.

In "The Bellboy", we see this particular approach taken to the extreme. Lewis has a dual role in the film, the primary one is as Stanley, a bellboy at Miami's Fontainebleu Hotel, who remains mute until the end of the movie. His second role is as himself, "Jerry Lewis" the moviestar, who is a guest in the hotel. This role is of course, a speaking one.

The film basically splices together an assortment of bits and gags, primarily featuring the Bellboy character. There is no real story. A few of the gags are truly funny or amusing, but most of them are the excessive, often ridiculous, in your face stuff, that Lewis would continue to make a part of his films. That the resulting "movie" is actually not that different than one of his regular feature films, really says a lot about Lewis's style of filmmaking.

Jerry Lewis is a gifted funnyman, however one of his flaws seems to be an inability to determine when he has gone too far. Hammering home his point, is something that he often can't resist. If you enjoy Jerry's comic excesses, "The Bellboy" has more than its share.

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Magical, sublime, groundbreaking comedy! See it!
I am moved with joy to the point of tears each time I watch this film. This movie mark's Jerry Lewis' directing debut. He was staying as a guest at the Fountainbleu (the setting of the movie) when, inspired by the bell boys there, he spontaneously decided to create this film. This movie is so rich in comedy, inspiration, and meaning. "The Bell Boy" is a keeper...it gains even more magic with each viewing. It will upstage people looking for a traditional, formulaic, Hollywood-style comedy because it is an experimental, non-narrative based film. He not only gives tribute to his hero Stan Laurel (of Laurel and Hardy), who makes an appearance in this film, but in an inspired and subtle way, to many great early comedies and shorts, like Eliot Porter's "Fun in a Bakery Shop." Here we also glimpse Lewis' great humanitarian and political side. He plays a big-hearted, bumbling bell boy who gets treated like dirt but, with crazy devotion, tries to shine in every menial task he's asked to perform. In a light-handed and funny way, he shows the unfair treatment and tedium that working-class people endure. He mocks Hollywood's celebrity worship. By playing a mute, he not only brings out the best and most outlandish of his physical comedy, but he also shows the unbowing spirit of the voiceless. He weaves all these issues in so subtly and with so much joy that you hardly notice that he is making a statement. Lewis' comedy and acting is brilliant, and you'll be dazzled by all the inventive, wacky ways he brings out magic and laughs inside the hotel lobby. "The Bell Boy" has the force and sweep of Disney's "Fantasia 2000." A total gem of a movie!