Imogene Coca

(On Cable TV, April 2022) Jack Lemmon played his share of cads, but he really pushed the line between daring and detestable in Under the Yum Yum Tree, a sex comedy that features him as the landlord of an apartment building who only rents to young women, helping him to find his next romantic conquest. What was probably obnoxious in 1963 (as per some supporting characters’ reactions to his scheme) does feel far more noxious today, and that may explain why the film struggles to gather any chuckles for a very long time. Even by the standards of early-1960s sex comedies (both innocent and sleazy), having Lemmon’s character demonstrate how his bachelor pad is fully automated for seduction feels a step too far – there’s a lot of unexamined background in the lead character’s pathologies, and it’s a fair bet that the film would have been flat-out repellent had anyone else but the amiable Lemmon had starred. It certainly helps that much of the film shows the limitations of his approach whenever a new female renter shows up and (through misunderstandings and gender assumptions) gets her boyfriend included in the apartment occupancy – the fun lies in seeing a seasoned predator getting his comeuppance from both the object of his affection and his enablers (notably one played by Imogene Coca) suddenly unwilling to participate in the schemes. Still, there are far better films in the same subgenre, and most of them are far less irritating than Under the Yum Yum Tree. Maybe you’ll be able to tolerate a first viewing of the film, but this is one of those 1960s “comedies” that turns to borderline horror the more you contemplate it.