We were browsing Netflix last Friday evening, looking for good family fare, and stumbled on this 1963 film, starring Doris Day and James Garner. I had never heard of it before, but we thought we'd give it a try. If you've never seen it, read on.
The stars certainly don't need selling (J.G. is particularly easy on the eyes), and they are great together in this movie. The main story line, far from being dated (conflict is about Mom/Doris having a part-time career) still speaks to us stay-home moms who are occasionally tempted to take on too much outside the home. There are lots of laughs in this movie (some unintentional--a doctor's wife canning her own ketchup?!) The scene where James Garner fakes being drunk is by itself worth a month's subscription to Netflix.
The secondary characters and side-stories are also funny, from the antics of the kids, to the crochety patriarch of the Happy Soap company, to the Teutonic Mrs Goethe the maid, to the nearly-50-year-old mom thrilled to be pregnant (a bit counter-cultural, what?), to the cameos by screenwriter Carl Reiner (and tramp), to the obtuse sycophantic ad execs (some things never change).
The only iffy part is where James Garner's character pretends to be having an affair in order to regain his wife's attention, but he only pretends. By today's standards, that's pretty mild. And of course it has a happy ending. Highly recommended. Not only would I gladly watch it again, I'm tempted to buy it.
.
I saw that movie the other day, but didn't know what it was called. I also enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete