5.7/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.7/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Too Many Women remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you're looking for a serious sports movie, keep walking. Too Many Women is basically just an excuse to watch guys in letterman sweaters run around trying to juggle dates. It is silly, it is loud, and it is exactly what you would expect from the era.
Mickey Daniels is supposed to be this hotshot baseball player. But the guy can barely look at a pitcher because he is too busy looking at every girl that walks by the dugout. It is a one-note joke, but he plays it with enough goofy intensity that it kind of works for the short runtime.
The pacing is all over the place. One minute they are at a game, and the next they are caught in some weird social mix-up that feels like it was written on a napkin during lunch. Honestly, it reminded me a bit of the chaotic energy in Mickey's Choo-Choo, just with more flirting and less train track danger.
There is this one scene in the cafeteria where someone drops a tray and the whole room just goes silent. It drags for a solid five seconds too long. You can almost feel the director thinking, "Is this funny yet?" It wasn't, but I sort of admired the commitment to the awkwardness.
The extras in the background are doing the most. I spent way too much time watching a guy in the back row who clearly forgot his lines and was just mouthing 'watermelon' over and over again. It is those little, messy details that make these old shorts worth clicking on.
Look, it is not a masterpiece. It doesn't have the grit of The Fight or the weird, historical weight of The Olympic Games Held at Chamonix in 1924. It is just a goofy relic.
Don't overthink it. Just watch it if you want something light and don't mind the fact that it makes absolutely no sense by the end. Sometimes a movie just needs to be a bunch of guys running around in circles. ⚾️
