YMMV / Kiss Me, Stupid

• Adaptation Displacement:
  • L'ora della fantasia and Moglie per una notte are very obscure outside Italy, while this film is moderately well-known.
  • Crossed with Germans Love David Hasselhoff in Italy. The film proved so popular there that instead of L'ora della fantasia, the original play is now called Baciami stupido! and is often performed with the Climax, Nevada setting instead of the original 19th century Italian one.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: During the dinner, Orville quotes the then-famous tagline from Italian Swiss Colony wine commercials: "From that little old winemaker: me!" Three years later, Dean Martin had a hit with a song whose title was also a reference to the slogan, "Little Ole Wine Drinker Me".
• Once Original, Now Common: Scandalous in 1964, pretty tame by today's standards. Though seeing a black-and-white Screwball Comedy with some rather modern attitudes toward sex is an interesting experience.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: As to be expected in a Billy Wilder comedy. Almost exactly at the midway point (when Dino finally meets Polly), the film shifts from being a trite, labored, overbaked farce and turns into a witty, sophisticated and daring comedy of mores, with some psychological undertones as well.
• Values Dissonance: Part of Barney's plan involves threatened domestic violence being Played for Laughs. Also Dino is very sexist and even cracks a Date Rape joke in his Vegas act.
• Values Resonance: Zelda and Polly are three-dimensional, non-stereotypical female characters, a rarity for a Hollywood Sex Comedy of The '60s. The scene where they finally meet and realize how much they can relate to one another is surprisingly progressive and well-handled.

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