Nothing argues so effectively for legalized divorce as marriage, at least in Germi's world that pits man (and woman) against a rigid social system that confines as it defines love. Dustin Hoffman plays a bank clerk who shies away from people and responsibility until marriage makes him an activist-for divorce. Like Mastroianni's lounge lizard in Divorce, Italian Style, loner Alfredo marries a powerhouse of passion and possessiveness. The theme is familiar but the gags are still beautiful, and casting against type is Germi's comic coup. Pauline Kael noted, "Dubbed with a mellifluous Italian voice, Dustin Hoffman gives a warm and friendly performance...and the novelty of seeing him without his own frightened, choked-up voice adds an extra dimension to this Pietro Germi comedy....Stefania Sandrelli plays the flighty, extravagantly romantic girl Alfredo marries; his bride's exquisite features give her a look of mystery, but she's an imbecile sphinx, mysterious yet dumb as a cow."