The Ritz

I was expecting a mix of funny and offensive stuff, but it turned out to be mostly just funny.

A relic of a bygone era, but a pretty delightful one. I like when F. Murray Abraham picks up a ringing telephone, screams into it, and then calmly walks away.

Richard Lester's farce, adapted by Terrence McNally from his own play, probably seemed quite daring in 1976, as the hetero protagonist (Jack Weston) finds himself in a gay bathhouse while hiding out from his murderous brother-in-law (Jerry Stiller). But by today's standards it's pretty quaint and not as funny as it should be; the timing is too sloppy for it to become a great farce. F. Murray Abraham as a cheerfully campy patron and Rita Moreno as the terrible resident singer come off best.