Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?

Here's a glorious mess of a movie. Well, maybe not glorious, but it certainly is a mess, and I think it realizes that. Anthony Newly wrote, directed, produced, and starred in this semi-autobiographical film that has loosely been compared to Fellini's 8 1/2 in nature and the fact that it's kind of a film about the making of a film about the life of Hieronymus Merkin. Upon its initial 1969 release, it received an X rating, perhaps for its candid sexual content and the slightly disturbing undertones of pedophilia, but strangely enough, it's all in good fun. It realizes that it's controversial, in fact the scenes that take place behind the scenes during the making of the film (are you following?) humorously address the candid nature of the film. Like I said, it's a mess, but a bold and sometimes boring mess.