In one of his earliest leads Cary Grant is marketed the way female eye candy was in the day as a dashing and suave plastic surgeon in Kiss and Make-Up. An insipid and lame comedy musical with Wampas babies running all over the set, Cary even gets to warble a tune a couple of times though Helen Mack and Edward Evrett Horton one up him with a rendition of a simple ditty entitled "Corn beef and Cabbage." Whether modeling tuxes or robes Grant is displayed in a way to slay women both on and off the screen with little help from the lifeless script and near non-existent plot. "Kiss" does make some pointed jabs about cosmetic surgery and the narcissism driving it but tries to remain light, resulting in lame.
The slapstick finale is hackneyed and desperate but not before showing more than its fair share of close-ups and profiles of an actor about to become an icon and legend of Hollywood film over the next 30 years.
The slapstick finale is hackneyed and desperate but not before showing more than its fair share of close-ups and profiles of an actor about to become an icon and legend of Hollywood film over the next 30 years.