Mr. Chayefsky has written ["Middle of the Night"] in a minor key, deliberately holding down the emotion and laying emphasis on the homeliness of the material. Everyone is intentionally average—the manufacturer and his daughter and sister; the blonde and her mother, sister and impulsive husband.
The reactions to a love affair between a middle-aged man and a girl who is younger than his daughter are average, and the dialogue is composed of average talk. Toward his material Mr. Chayefsky has a kind of O. Henry sense of familiarity. Apparently it is part of his design to underwrite the plot….
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