In Visitors from New York, Hannah Warren is a Manhattanworkaholic who flies to Los Angeles to retrieve her teenaged daughter Jenny after she leaves home to live with her successful screenwriter father Bill. The bickering divorced couple is forced to decide what living arrangements are best for the girl. In Visitors from London, Diana Barrie is a British actress and a first-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actress in an independent British film, an honour that could jumpstart her faltering career, although she knows she doesn't have a chance of winning. She is in deep denial about the true nature of her marriage of convenience to Sidney Cochran, a once-closeted gay antique dealer who has become increasingly indiscreet about his sexuality. As she prepares for her moment in the spotlight, her mood fluctuates from hope to panic to despair. In Visitors from Philadelphia, conservative middle-aged businessman Marvin Michaels awakens to discover a prostitute named Bunny - an unexpected gift from his brother Harry - unconscious in his bed. With his wife Millie on her way up to the suite, he must find a way to conceal all traces of his uncharacteristic indiscretion. In Visitors from Chicago, Dr. Chauncey Gump and his wife Lola and Dr. Willis Panama and his wife Bettina are taking a much-needed vacation together. Things begin to unravel quickly when everything seems to go wrong and the two men decide to settle their differences by engaging in a very competitive mixed doubles tennis match.
of The New York Times called California Suite "the most agreeably realised Simon film in years" and added, "Here is Mr. Simon in top form, under the direction of Herbert Ross, one of the few directors... who can cope with the particular demands of material that simultaneously means to be touching and so nonstop clever one sometimes wants to gag him. It all works in California Suite, not only because the material is superior Simon, but also because the writer and the director have assembled a dream cast." Variety observed, "Neil Simon and Herbert Ross have gambled in radically altering the successful format of California Suite as it appeared on stage. Instead of four separate playlets, there is now one semi-cohesive narrative revolving around visitors to the Beverly Hills Hotel... The technique is less than successful, veering from poignant emotionalism to broad slapstick in sudden shifts." Time Out New York described the film as "quick and varied comedy, highly suited to Neil Simon's machine-gun gag-writing" and added, "Fonda provides the film with its centre, giving another performance of unnerving sureness. Also on the credit side is a bedroom farce of epic proportions from Matthau and May. The other vignettes are a bit glum." Channel 4 said, "It's an expertly crafted slick movie that sets up each of its coconuts and knocks them over with a sure eye, but ultimately it's emotional sushi rather than satisfying catharsis." California Suite holds a rating of 54% on Rotten Tomatoes from 24 reviews.
Awards and nominations
DVD release
The film was released on DVD on Region 1 DVD on January 2, 2002. It is in anamorphic widescreen format with audio tracks in English and French and subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai.
