The World's Greatest Lover

"The World's Greatest Lover" is a 1977 comedy film starring Gene Wilder and Carol Kane.

Plot

Set in the silent film era, Rainbow Studios figures they are losing revenue to a rival studio because they don't have Rudolph Valentino. They decide to hold a contest for the World's Greatest Lover in order to find a star to combat Valentino's popularity. Rudy Valentine (Wilder) is a neurotic baker, but aspires to compete in the contest. His entry into the contest tests his marriage and his neurosis manifest themselves in his screen test where he nearly kills his fellow actress. Surprisingly, this behavior scores favorably with the studio executives reviewing his performance. He gets a slot in the final phase of the contest, just after finding his wife (Kane) left him.

Reception

Critics were largely unimpressed by this film, who compared it to Wilder's earlier works with Mel Brooks. It gained a 13% "fresh" rating on the criticism aggregation site, Rotten Tomatoes. [rotten-tomatoes|id=worlds_greatest_lover|title=The World's Greatest Lover]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0076933|title=The World's Greatest Lover