In the red light district of Paris where policemen turn a blind eye to the rampant abasement, Irma la Douce (the Sweet) is the most formidable of the street's many prostitute. All carries on swimmingly until the arrival of Inspector Nestor Patau, the honest beat cop who has just been promoted from his post at a playground. When he halls all the working girls to jail, confronts their johns and pimps, and insults his superior officer, Nestor soon finds himself jobless looking for affection in the same neighborhood, which he does in Irma's arms. Quickly establishing himself as a top pimp with Irma as his lover and only client, Nestor becomes insanely jealous and devises a preposterous scheme where he can buy all of her time by masquerading as a British aristocrat! From a play by Alexandre Breffort with his longtime screenwriting collaborator I.A.L. Diamond, "Irma la Douce" is a rioutous farce by legendary writer/director Billy Wilder. Working with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, reteaming after the inimitable "The Apartment", Wilder manages to create another sweet and funny film with several memorable and inventive scenes. MacLaine is at her ditsy best and Lemmon has a field day hamming it up as the cockeyed Lord X. Lou Jacobi also has an amusing role as a bartender who has seemingly played every role in the European underworld. "Irma la Douce" is a hilarious if not slightly overlong film that doesn't quite match up to the best of Wilder's work, mainly because he set the bar so high.
