You Can't Take It With You is a movie with a real simple premise because it is about a rich man who wants to buy some property, but an older gentleman refuses to sell his home to give away his piece of the land. Meanwhile, the business tycoon's son is in love with a relative of the old man. It's an age-old story that I feel like I've seen a hundred times before. What makes it considerably less simple is the cast of wacky characters that live with the old man. This quirky bunch of individuals are something that I can't imagine ever seeing in the real world. In fact, they are almost so over-the-top that they don't make sense in a movie, particularly when they all break into insane dancing and song. It's like something out of a spoof comedy rather than anything realistic.
It took some time for me to buy into You Can't Take It With You. I was so put off by the unusual characters, and their insane shenanigans that I was questioning whether Capra would ever sell me on a grounded story. I think it took them delving into the star-crossed romance a little deeper before I got invested in the plot. There are some good moments particularly when the 2 families have to deal with each other, since they are such polar opposites. It made me think of The Birdcage if there was no attempt at deception about who everyone was in reality. The humor doesn't always work for me (probably because I wasn't fully buying into the odd family,) but I still laughed on occasion. You Can't Take It With You is certainly entertaining, and perhaps all it would take is for me to be in a better state of mind to truly love it, but I still found it worthwhile.
It took some time for me to buy into You Can't Take It With You. I was so put off by the unusual characters, and their insane shenanigans that I was questioning whether Capra would ever sell me on a grounded story. I think it took them delving into the star-crossed romance a little deeper before I got invested in the plot. There are some good moments particularly when the 2 families have to deal with each other, since they are such polar opposites. It made me think of The Birdcage if there was no attempt at deception about who everyone was in reality. The humor doesn't always work for me (probably because I wasn't fully buying into the odd family,) but I still laughed on occasion. You Can't Take It With You is certainly entertaining, and perhaps all it would take is for me to be in a better state of mind to truly love it, but I still found it worthwhile.