Grant. Stewart. Hepburn. Legends of their days converging to create a gem, screwball comedy worthy of all of their names. Its wit and timing have made it a classic of its genre, and will surely please anybody with half a brain.
Katharine Hepburn plays Tracy of the Lord's family, one of the richest in the area, and whose marriage to the common man, George Kittredge, is making a splash among all of the reporters in the big city. It sucks for them, cuz she ain't havin' none of them at her party. Fiercely anti-press, she has shut off herself and her family from the journalists and reporters, namely those from Spy Magazine.
Little does she know that her ex-husband, C.K. Dexter Haven (Grant)--who left her life with one swift physical blow--has information about the Lord family, and with assistance from Macaulay Conner, a reporter, and Elizabeth Imbry, a photographer, he is able to weasel his way back into the household and the heart of Tracy. James Stewart and Ruth Hussey play Conner and Liz (respectfully of course), both middle class, working types who are great artists, who sell out to their financial chains, and crash the wedding--well, the day before rather--of socialites whom they cannot stand.
It's a secret, surely, but Tracy isn't so dumb. In fact she is quite the opposite. Repeatedly touted as an a statue, a goddess, a queen, and in my eyes an idol, she is something to be worshiped and revered as opposed to loved. She is a creature so far from a normal man that nothing escapes her. How hard it must have been to cast such a woman. Had this movie been made at any other moment in time other than when Hepburn was still young, beautiful, and filled with such vitality (not that it dwindled, but...you know) then I think that this could have been an incredible bore filled with mediocrity.
The story turns into a love quadrangle as Tracy is pulled between her current fiance, the love of her life, and the new, intellectual charmer. Meanwhile there is false identity, and champagne-fueled, pre-wedding party that keeps the story lively and full of spunk. The first half was slow and tedious, and was only redeemed at the midway point. Thank God for Stewart's awesome work as a drunk.
This film has a great script, but it is one of those scripts that needs the right cast in order to make it accessible, and I don't think that they could have gotten a better one. Grant does not play the funny guy in this, which was at first disappointing because he has such amazing timing, but he nevertheless did his job with the slightest nudge in the ribs to the audience. Stewart was good once he was drunk. The first half of the film he decided to do that stupid thing that he always does where he talks quietly and firmly to everyone, as though he was about to give them a passionate kiss, but he loosened up in the end and was enjoyable. As always it was the goddess Katharine who was the glue for the film. She was electric. She was magnetic with a tongue like a sword which she brandished exactly and lethally. This film is one in which any weak link would have sunk the entire picture, but they played off of one another spectacularly.
Also worth mentioning was Virginia Weilder who played Dinah, Tracy's kid sister. I have never before encountered this actress, but apparently she was the Dakota Fanning of her day, and she was hilarious as the plucky eyes and ears of the story. I laughed watching her more than any of her illustrious counterparts.
I do not believe that this movie is as good as it is made out to be; it is often regarded as a classic. It was well written, acted, and directed--mostly. The first half of the movie I though was dull and uninspired. There were good moments, but I could have easily turned it off and would not have cared. The kiss of death for a film is when it cannot seize its audience's attention, because a lesser moviegoer would absolutely have hit the power button. The end was definitely worth the wait, though.
3/4
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