If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

C. K. Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby) invites a band (Louis Armstrong and His Band) to his Newport estate to practice. His neighbor and former love Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly) is getting married to the respectable George Kittredge. She disapproves and broke up with Dexter over his lowly music career. Tabloid Spy Magazine uses scandalous information about her father to blackmail the family to gain access to the wedding. They send Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra) and photographer Liz Imbrie. Tracy decides to fake out the tabloid by switching uncle Willy and her father.The cast is high-powered. Based on The Philadelphia Story, a musical remake is not absolutely necessary. It doesn't have quite the same amount of screwball fun. Grace Kelly may not have the comedic chops to deliver fully on the role. She gives off an air of someone trying to be quirky. Part of it is that her character is a little fake but it does translate into Kelly faking it. She's too high maintenance to be appealing. Crosby and Sinatra have the easy charms. I'm not a big fan of the Cole Porter songs. This has all the fire power in the world but it is not quite as fun.

I saw this film before I was aware of the existence of The Philadelphia Story, and I enjoyed it. Having now seen both several times I feel that the one redeeming feature of High Society is the music, as the acting chemistry among the central characters is a feeble imitation of The Philadelphia Story. The highlight is Crosby and Sinatra doing "What a swell party this is," I could reeeally do without Louis Armstrong singing and speaking directly to the camera. I will never understand why great musicians insist on singing when the really have no talent for it (Eric Clapton,for example). As long as the viewer enjoys the music, and does not expect snappy dialogue, she or he will not be disappointed with this film.

I don't usually review films just to give them a pasting, but for a glossy, prestige 1950's production this is a very poor show when compared with the original 'Philadelphia Story'.Why would Grace Kelly even look at Der Bingle, who is old enough to be her father? Why would Frank Sinatra look twice at Kelly's boring rich girl, when he has sparky Celeste Holm right by his side? Tracy is supposed to have 'hidden fires', but played by Kelly she is just a vacuous prig. There isn't even any fun to be had from the supporting cast, Uncle Willy is a cypher and scheming editor Sidney Kidd disappears completely. Louis Armstrong adds some life to the proceedings, but was he the only performer at the Newport Jazz Festival that year? The direction is incredibly dull, just a series of VistaVision mid-shots which keeps the actors miles away from the audience, and some of the clumsy goofs mean the boom microphone should have got its own 'also featuring' credit.Everybody seems to have been asleep on this job: cast, crew, director and producers.

In 1940, a film called "The Philadelphia Story", starring Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Katherine Hepburn, was released to critical and financial success. It also received six Academy Award nominations, and won two for its screenplay and James Stewart's performance. Sixteen years later, a musical remake to this film titled "High Society" was made, this time starring Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Grace Kelly. Before I delve into my thoughts on "High Society", I'd like to briefly share my opinion on remakes in general. Unless they are based on a film that was bad and/or improve upon the flaws of their predecessor, I find remakes completely unnecessary and lazy especially when it's a good film that's being remade. So although it is a remake of a well-made comedy, "High Society" works reasonably well for what it is which is light, amusing musical entertainment. A jazz musician by the name of C.K. Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby) has recently been divorced from wealthy socialite Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly, in her final film role before officially becoming Princess Grace of Monaco). Despite this circumstance along with her recent engagement to snooty gentleman George Kittredge (John Lund), Dexter is still in love with her and determined to win her back. Things become further complicated when a magazine sends reporter Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Celeste Holm) to cover the wedding in exchange of disregarding humiliating information about the family. Though Mike is very reluctant to be there, he does become attracted to Tracy as well. Now, Tracy must choose between Dexter, Mike, and George before the big day arrives. If I could come up with only one reason why you should see this film regardless if you possibly don't care for either musicals or remakes, it would be for the cast. I don't recall another film in history that has brought together Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly all in one film. Kelly ends her impressive acting career here with arguably the only comedic role she's played. One could say she's mostly imitating Katherine Hepburn here and that some of her previous roles (notably Frances Stevens in "To Catch a Thief") technically had even more underlying humor present. She still has fun with this role and has not lost any of the charm or beauty that made people like me love her in the first place. Crosby and Sinatra also bring their usual charm and star power to their roles, most notably in the film's best musical number "Well, Did You Evah". I liked the chemistry between Kelly and Sinatra, and how he has to take time to warm up to her ways. Even though Crosby and Sinatra are both competing for Kelly's affection, I didn't mind that they were still friendly towards one another. If it wasn't for the star power of Kelly, Sinatra or Crosby, I would have forgotten that there were even actors in this film since the characters themselves are pretty underdeveloped, especially George. George is the type of character that was only created for the convenience of the plot and nothing more. He is an exceptionally poor antagonist to the story because he has no personality to him and he doesn't seem to enjoy being there. I've already implied that "Well, Did You Evah" was the musical highlight of the film, but how do the other songs written by Cole Porter hold up in my mind? I'd say that with the exception of one or two forgettable tunes, the others range from solid to catchy. "High Society" (the opening tune sung by Louis Armstrong and his band), "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", and "You're Sensational" come to mind when naming other well written songs. If you're a hardcore fan of Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and the musical film genre in general, I think you'll find "High Society" to be fine, fluffy evening entertainment.