#29: My Favorite Wife

Starring: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant
Dir: Garson Kanin (1940)

So once again I waited too long between the movie-watching and the post-writing, and I have few recollections worth putting down now. I remember being vaguely put off by how implausible the movie was (supposedly on purpose, but still). Mainly the annoying part of my brain was just going "OMG IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO BE THIS WELL-ADJUSTED AFTER SEVEN YEARS STRANDED ON AN ISLAND and also WHY DOESN'T SHE HAVE HELLA SUN DAMAGE NOW and also WHY IS HER HAIR STILL REALLY SHORT?" But beyond that... and it is hard to get beyond that since the whole movie is a screwball comedy based around a classic ("Enoch Arden") premise that is actually pretty loaded... it is pretty much as good as it should be. I always like seeing Irene Dunne and Cary Grant together, although so far my favorite is (and probably will continue to be) The Awful Truth, just because of all the good fights!
My personal preference is not to see Cary Grant doing the doofy, pop-eyed reaction shots I feel he does a lot of in this film as well as Arsenic and Old Lace. I prefer him being fast-talking, wise-cracking, athletic, or all of the above. That being said, though, there are a good number of adorable scenes scattered throughout My Favorite Wife which is an otherwise standard screwball (full disclosure: not usually my favorite style of comedy). For example, the scene where Cary Grant practices his confession to his second wife in the lobby of their hotel building is adorable. Another when he tries to convince Irene Dunne that he is on an airplane while inside a phone booth is pretty damn cute too.

*CHKKKKwappawappawappaCHKKKKKwappawappawappa*

Need I mention as well the final scene where he runs in and out of her room with a million lame excuses like a Pontipee brother trying to get her to invite him in? Culminating in this??

MERRY CHRISTMAS INDEED

And Irene Dunne manages to be adorable the whole time as well. I always thought I hated her ever since I first saw her in Roberta (any enemy of Ginger's is an enemy of mine!) but those days are gone. She is CUTE. Also, she altered her own skirt in the powder room. That lady is a stud.

Beyond that, I'm sorry to report I have little to say. Basically the whole time I was just wanting to re-watch The Awful Truth. This is sounding like a bad review - it wasn't bad, it was just not my most favoritest genre. Also... I have never liked Randolph Scott. Even in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. He was just never cute, never funny, always a little bit of a butt. There, I've got it off my chest! Sorry, Cary, I know you were buds...

Stars: 3.25 of 5 because I'm finnicky

P.S. Cute moment to make up for stupid review: