The Pleasure Principle

Freelance journalist Dick (Firth) can't resist dames, and dames can't resist him. Causing him varying degrees of hormonal distress are Sammy (Baxter), a dippy divorcee just waiting for Dick to come and free her sexuality; ex-wife Anne (Mair-Thomas), now a born-again radical lesbian; and two women whose elegance and sophistication are signalled by their coffee-ad eyebrow-arching: brain surgeon Judith (Gwynne) and lawyer Charlotte (Anthony). The theme of the improbable Don Juan has been thoroughly overhauled by the likes of Truffaut and Woody Allen, and this adds nothing new. It knee-jerks smugly at all the right themes, acknowledging its hero's new-man machismo, but the voice-over continually invites the male viewer to share its wide-eyed bewilderment at the Mystery That Is Woman. The women are stereotyped and manipulative, perverse harridans or cuddlesome love-bunnies. More pain than pleasure.