I saw this film many years ago, when I was first discovering Cary Grant and going through some of his big films, and somehow it never made a big impression on me, and I largely forgot it. So I recently decided to see it again. It was very good, but didn't live up to all the rave reviews you see on this site.
I was perfectly content with the plot (althought it *is* a little odd, more on that later). The cast and performances were just fine. There were definitely some out-loud laughs and funny lines. Just... less of them than I expected. That's really my complaint, I just didn't think this one was as consistently funny as some of the other great screwball comedies of the era. I blame the script. While there are a few great lines, on the whole I think the dialog could've used some punching up. Some scenes just didn't do that much for me, especially when Cary is playing the piano and the dog is "singing". I just found it loud and irritating, and it didn't make sense to me why the other characters were trying to talk over this cacophony rather than either asking for some quiet or just going over to Leeson's apartment (which was only across the hall!) Also, some of the supporting characters could've been used to greater advantage: both the aunt and Leeson's mother had great promise but in the end weren't given that much to do, and as someone else astutely pointed out, the dog just disappears into the aether.
Now about the plot: It really seems very odd to me that we never DO find out what Cary was up to when he was supposed to be in Florida. He's clearly involved in *some* kind of deception. Are we supposed to assume that he was indeed having an affair? That seems both a little harsh and a little out of place, given the rest of the film. The key sticking point between the couple is clearly made out to be his inability to trust her; other than her initial discovery with the orange, she never reproaches him over his shenanigans (whatever they might be) nor does he ever display any contrition over them, which you'd think would be required if he really had been up to serious no good. Moreover, if he *was* having an affair, it leads to some obvious questions: 1) Why not have the affair *in Florida*? Florida is surely a very nice place to fly off to with a lover, and he could clearly afford it. 2) Why not continue with this lover after the divorce? The best he's able to come up with for the first half of the film is Miss Gone-With-The-Wind, who he admits he had just met. Frankly, it just never really seems credible to me that he was having an affair; it seems more likely that he was doing something of a decidedly less naughty character, like big-poker-game-with-the-boys or something. But you'd think that something like that would be revealed to us. Sadly, it looks like the true answer is that the writers had NO IDEA what he was doing not-in-Florida, they just needed to contrive something to help fuel the initial argument that leads to divorce. Which really is just lazy and makes the whole thing unnecessarily contrived.
On the plus side: I think the whole last bedroom scene really works. The film has been successful enough up to this point that we really *want* to see these two finally get together (well, back together), and we're really curious to see just how it's going to happen, and so the film teases and tantalizes us for a while at the end. And I don't think anybody has made a strong enough point of this yet: when Irene is lying there in the bed there, man, she is HOT! Her expression and body language is just so right-on, she's unbelievably alluring. You totally feel how much Cary's character must want to jump her, because you so much want to jump her yourself! (maybe only men (and lesbians) can truly appreciate this. :) )
So, overall, a very good film, but not quite up there with the likes of His Girl Friday or The Philadelphia Story.
I was perfectly content with the plot (althought it *is* a little odd, more on that later). The cast and performances were just fine. There were definitely some out-loud laughs and funny lines. Just... less of them than I expected. That's really my complaint, I just didn't think this one was as consistently funny as some of the other great screwball comedies of the era. I blame the script. While there are a few great lines, on the whole I think the dialog could've used some punching up. Some scenes just didn't do that much for me, especially when Cary is playing the piano and the dog is "singing". I just found it loud and irritating, and it didn't make sense to me why the other characters were trying to talk over this cacophony rather than either asking for some quiet or just going over to Leeson's apartment (which was only across the hall!) Also, some of the supporting characters could've been used to greater advantage: both the aunt and Leeson's mother had great promise but in the end weren't given that much to do, and as someone else astutely pointed out, the dog just disappears into the aether.
Now about the plot: It really seems very odd to me that we never DO find out what Cary was up to when he was supposed to be in Florida. He's clearly involved in *some* kind of deception. Are we supposed to assume that he was indeed having an affair? That seems both a little harsh and a little out of place, given the rest of the film. The key sticking point between the couple is clearly made out to be his inability to trust her; other than her initial discovery with the orange, she never reproaches him over his shenanigans (whatever they might be) nor does he ever display any contrition over them, which you'd think would be required if he really had been up to serious no good. Moreover, if he *was* having an affair, it leads to some obvious questions: 1) Why not have the affair *in Florida*? Florida is surely a very nice place to fly off to with a lover, and he could clearly afford it. 2) Why not continue with this lover after the divorce? The best he's able to come up with for the first half of the film is Miss Gone-With-The-Wind, who he admits he had just met. Frankly, it just never really seems credible to me that he was having an affair; it seems more likely that he was doing something of a decidedly less naughty character, like big-poker-game-with-the-boys or something. But you'd think that something like that would be revealed to us. Sadly, it looks like the true answer is that the writers had NO IDEA what he was doing not-in-Florida, they just needed to contrive something to help fuel the initial argument that leads to divorce. Which really is just lazy and makes the whole thing unnecessarily contrived.
On the plus side: I think the whole last bedroom scene really works. The film has been successful enough up to this point that we really *want* to see these two finally get together (well, back together), and we're really curious to see just how it's going to happen, and so the film teases and tantalizes us for a while at the end. And I don't think anybody has made a strong enough point of this yet: when Irene is lying there in the bed there, man, she is HOT! Her expression and body language is just so right-on, she's unbelievably alluring. You totally feel how much Cary's character must want to jump her, because you so much want to jump her yourself! (maybe only men (and lesbians) can truly appreciate this. :) )
So, overall, a very good film, but not quite up there with the likes of His Girl Friday or The Philadelphia Story.