I've never understood the success of George Brent. He seems so uninteresting in most of the movies with him that I've seen. He is particularly uncharismatic in screwball comedy, which is what this movie is trying to be.
But there are lots of things that don't really work here. Ann Sheridan, who would give a spectacular performance the next year in The Man who Came to Dinner, never takes off here.
Is it the director? Lloyd Bacon made lots of good movies. Is it his fault this one just never catches fire? I don't have an answer.
This movie has some real talent in it, but it goes nowhere.
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I watched this movie again tonight, four years after I wrote the review above. I think I must have been in a bad mood then, because I enjoyed it much more now.
The real genius here is the script, which has some wonderful lines. Director Lloyd Bacon does keep things moving at a rapid pace. Ann Sheridan, as others have noted, is attractive, though no where nearly as stunning as in The Man Who Came to Dinner, which I watched again last night for the nth time - and loved from start to finish yet once again.
There are weak points here, clichés and filler. But at its best, it really is a zippy comedy.
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I watched it again tonight - not recognizing it until well into the movie, I'm embarrassed to report - and this time found it pleasant but unremarkable. I keep watching Ann Sheridan movies because she is so good in *The Man who came to Dinner*, but that really seems to have been a one-off gem for her. What a shame.
But there are lots of things that don't really work here. Ann Sheridan, who would give a spectacular performance the next year in The Man who Came to Dinner, never takes off here.
Is it the director? Lloyd Bacon made lots of good movies. Is it his fault this one just never catches fire? I don't have an answer.
This movie has some real talent in it, but it goes nowhere.
--------------------------------------------
I watched this movie again tonight, four years after I wrote the review above. I think I must have been in a bad mood then, because I enjoyed it much more now.
The real genius here is the script, which has some wonderful lines. Director Lloyd Bacon does keep things moving at a rapid pace. Ann Sheridan, as others have noted, is attractive, though no where nearly as stunning as in The Man Who Came to Dinner, which I watched again last night for the nth time - and loved from start to finish yet once again.
There are weak points here, clichés and filler. But at its best, it really is a zippy comedy.
================================
I watched it again tonight - not recognizing it until well into the movie, I'm embarrassed to report - and this time found it pleasant but unremarkable. I keep watching Ann Sheridan movies because she is so good in *The Man who came to Dinner*, but that really seems to have been a one-off gem for her. What a shame.