A breezy, often awkward 1980s sex-comedy built around Gene Wilder’s nervous energy, a strong supporting turn from Charles Grodin, and a memorable Stevie Wonder song. It has a few genuinely funny bits, but the premise depends on obsessive behavior that can feel more creepy than charming, and the film’s comic rhythm… Read more
The Woman in Red
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Comedy · Romance
Wed · 1h 27m
Director: Gene Wilder
Starring: Gene Wilder, Charles Grodin, Joseph Bologna
Overview
When a happily married family man, who would never consider an affair, meets a beautiful woman in red, he is totally infatuated and desperate to make her acquaintance. However, as he tries out various schemes to sneak out to meet her, he realizes that adultery is not quite as easy as it looks.
Director
Gene Wilder
Cast
Gene Wilder, Charles Grodin, Joseph Bologna
Curator Review
Verdict
A breezy, often awkward 1980s sex-comedy built around Gene Wilder’s nervous energy, a strong supporting turn from Charles Grodin, and a memorable Stevie Wonder song. It has a few genuinely funny bits, but the premise depends on obsessive behavior that can feel more creepy than charming, and the film’s comic rhythm is uneven.
Best for
fans of 1980s studio comedies
viewers who like Gene Wilder’s manic, anxious persona
people curious about a time-capsule sex farce
fans of Charles Grodin’s dry deadpan humor
viewers who prioritize soundtrack and star charisma over plot logic
Skip if
you want a modern or politically comfortable romance comedy
you’re sensitive to stalking-adjacent premise humor
you need consistently sharp jokes
you dislike broad farce and awkward sexual humor
you prefer films with strong narrative credibility
Overview
The Woman in Red is very much a product of its era: glossy, lightly raunchy, and built around the comic discomfort of a married man spiraling over an idealized stranger. Gene Wilder brings his familiar jittery sincerity, and Charles Grodin helps ground the movie with a drier, more reliable comic register. When it works, it’s because the movie understands how to turn embarrassment into farce.
Worth noting
But the film also has a real problem with premise and tone. The central obsession is hard to make charming, and the script often asks the audience to laugh at behavior that feels more invasive than romantic. That tension keeps the comedy from fully taking off, even when the supporting cast or a visual gag lands.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the atmosphere: the 1980s sheen, the San Francisco setting, and especially Stevie Wonder’s Oscar-winning title song, which gives the movie a cultural afterlife greater than its actual hit rate as a comedy. It’s a watchable curiosity, best approached as a star vehicle and period artifact rather than a fully satisfying romance.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Tylot Lantern (2.5★) · 100 likes
Mediocre movie that was not deserving of such a good soundtrack. The Charles Grodin stuff was pretty funny though.
Rodrigo Homsi (2★) · 97 likes
O ano é 1984 e a comédia não conhecia limites, nem o politicamente correto. Gene Wilder era uma das caras da comédia na década de 70 e 80 e em "A Dama de Vermelho" ele divide o seu tempo entre atuar e dirigir o filme e faz um trabalho elogiado por público e crítica na época. Passado o tempo, o que se salva é a beleza estonteante de Kelly LeBrock e a trilha sonora comandada por Stevie Wonder.
Amber (1.5★) · 83 likes
Watching Willy Wonka stalk a women around town isn't really that funny. It's actually kind of awkward and weird.
harrylime66 (3.5★) · 66 likes
Bea is waiting for me at the terminal. She moved to London after the university and now she has become the perfect body double of Vanessa Redgrave. We are first cousins, but as we are both… let us say particular people… we feel we are siblings. She is a beautiful woman, always smiling, always wearing bracelets and a scarf around her neck. I will stay at her place for three days… she got a work permit; I do not want
Scott D'Agostino (1★) · 56 likes
A painfully unfunny comedy with horrifically unlikable characters. There's douchebag characters in slasher movies that are more charming than the assholes in this movie.
1974 · Comedy · 1h 46m · PG · Where to watch: fuboTV
The essential Gene Wilder showcase: sharper, more inventive, and much more consistently funny.
Themes
marital temptation, obsession, farce, sexual frustration, midlife crisis, 1980s dating culture, misunderstanding, male fantasy
Topics
1980s comedy, romantic farce, sex comedy, midlife crisis, marital temptation, awkward humor, ensemble supporting cast, period studio movie, San Francisco setting, soundtrack-driven