The Geisha Boy was the fourth film Jerry Lewis made after parting professional ways with Dean Martin in 1956. It's an enjoyable experience, but it's clearly the product of a career in transition. It was one of the first films in which Lewis experimented in pathos and sentimentality, and that part of the movie doesn't quite work -- the end is needlessly drawn out and a trifle unbelievable. After The Geisha Boy, Jerry Lewis went into a slump. It wasn't until 1961's The Errand Boy that the solo phase of his career took off. But though it took some adjustment before he could make a good film on his own, he never lost his knack for physical comedy. As the first half of The Geisha Boy clearly shows, he was still as funny as ever.