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There are bad movies and then there's Portnoy's Complaint, which is dreadful in its own unique way. Of course, attempting to make a film of Philip Roth's outrageous satirical novel is a near-impossible task, one that would require incredible talent, a willingness to push the limits of taste with no shame or apology, a special and specific vision, and the ability to create new cinematic pathways that would in some way approximate the style of the novel. Unfortunately, neither the writer, the director, nor the producer has any of these qualities; worse, the writer, the director, and the producer are the same man, Ernest Lehman. Lehman has crafted a number of screenplays that are skillful, expert, and artful, but they are all conventional, and Portnoy demands utter unconventionality. Adding to the problem is the fact that Portnoy represents his first attempt at directing; it is unutterably awful. Perhaps on a typical movie, Lehman's direction might not be so bad, but here it is stilted, unimaginative, and downright embarrassing. As for his producing, he has given the film a tasteful look that is totally inappropriate. Under the circumstances, it's too much to ask the cast to be any good, and in the title role, Richard Benjamin is inept and annoying. The talented but entirely miscast Lee Grant is even worse, turning in a performance that, to save the actress embarrassment, should have been left on the cutting room floor; it would have wreaked havoc with the film's plot, but under the circumstances, that might have been preferable. Only Karen Black manages to give a good performance, a lone grace note in a shrill, discordant mess of a movie.