I am a movie buff. So to say that this is my #1 favorite movie comedy of all time is saying something. But I don't think any movie critic could ever argue against putting this film - at the very least - in the Top 10 very best comedies ever made.
Nor is there a comedy, I believe, that has a greater chemistry than exists between the main characters (including the delightful contributions by character actors May Robson, Charlie Ruggles and Barry Fitzgerald).
You might then wonder why I'm going to confess I would not put it amongst the Top 10 ROMANTIC comedies. It is, at least on the surface, a romantic comedy. But the romantic side of this doesn't work quite as well as the comedy - for my money. Yet, that being said, I'd still argue it should be listed in the Top 50 top romantic comedies ever (which is still saying something). This is not to take away from the film but to say that romance really isn't a strong component of this film - nor was it (I believe) meant to be. It's just a framework upon which to create a comic work of genius. (I'm not sure many would say Hepburn and Grant had a lot of romantic chemistry here. In other words, unlike When Harry Met Sally or The Shop Around The Corner, the resulting romance at the end of this film doesn't warm your heart quite as much; it's not as convincing or moving as other romantic comedies on a romantic level.)
But that's a trifle. To fault it for that is just quibbling. Because here you have two of the greatest actors ever - Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn - at their very funniest. You have a screenplay by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde that crackles with wit and hilarity. You have a pace that's like a roller coaster and laughs that will have you on the floor at times.
No male actor was better at comedy than Cary Grant and here he sets the standard for how to do it. No actor can best his performance here, nor have they come close - in my humble opinion. (Grant, of course, put in incredible comic performances earlier in The Awful Truth and later on in Arsenic And Old Lace and other movies; yet I still think he laid the law down especially in this movie. This is how you do it.)
Katharine Hepburn - who was as good a comic actress as serious - was absolutely inspired in this film and was never better. Was there a better female acting performance in a comedy before this movie - funnier, more convincing, with more energy and sophistication? I'd argue not (although Claudette Colbert was brilliant in It Happened One Night and Irene Dunne was stellar in The Awful Truth, etc., etc.). And you'd be hard-pressed to find a better female comedic performance in a movie afterward - although TV's Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett would later raise the bar even higher, on the tube. But I wouldn't be surprised if they learned some lessons from Hepburn here.
This is just a joy ride of genius that - like all great movies - is worth seeing again and again. With its sophisticated side and its more vaudeville-inspired physical humor, this fires on every cylinder and delights over and over again.
Nor is there a comedy, I believe, that has a greater chemistry than exists between the main characters (including the delightful contributions by character actors May Robson, Charlie Ruggles and Barry Fitzgerald).
You might then wonder why I'm going to confess I would not put it amongst the Top 10 ROMANTIC comedies. It is, at least on the surface, a romantic comedy. But the romantic side of this doesn't work quite as well as the comedy - for my money. Yet, that being said, I'd still argue it should be listed in the Top 50 top romantic comedies ever (which is still saying something). This is not to take away from the film but to say that romance really isn't a strong component of this film - nor was it (I believe) meant to be. It's just a framework upon which to create a comic work of genius. (I'm not sure many would say Hepburn and Grant had a lot of romantic chemistry here. In other words, unlike When Harry Met Sally or The Shop Around The Corner, the resulting romance at the end of this film doesn't warm your heart quite as much; it's not as convincing or moving as other romantic comedies on a romantic level.)
But that's a trifle. To fault it for that is just quibbling. Because here you have two of the greatest actors ever - Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn - at their very funniest. You have a screenplay by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde that crackles with wit and hilarity. You have a pace that's like a roller coaster and laughs that will have you on the floor at times.
No male actor was better at comedy than Cary Grant and here he sets the standard for how to do it. No actor can best his performance here, nor have they come close - in my humble opinion. (Grant, of course, put in incredible comic performances earlier in The Awful Truth and later on in Arsenic And Old Lace and other movies; yet I still think he laid the law down especially in this movie. This is how you do it.)
Katharine Hepburn - who was as good a comic actress as serious - was absolutely inspired in this film and was never better. Was there a better female acting performance in a comedy before this movie - funnier, more convincing, with more energy and sophistication? I'd argue not (although Claudette Colbert was brilliant in It Happened One Night and Irene Dunne was stellar in The Awful Truth, etc., etc.). And you'd be hard-pressed to find a better female comedic performance in a movie afterward - although TV's Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett would later raise the bar even higher, on the tube. But I wouldn't be surprised if they learned some lessons from Hepburn here.
This is just a joy ride of genius that - like all great movies - is worth seeing again and again. With its sophisticated side and its more vaudeville-inspired physical humor, this fires on every cylinder and delights over and over again.