Load of rubbish!!

Just what I expected

Awesome Movie

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Most of the stuff that occurs in the story stretches the limits of credibility but at least Powell and Loy have a good time doing it. This is screwball comedy in high gear, paced by the high energy of the players, especially after Steve Ireland's (William Powell) attorney recommends an insanity defense in a divorce proceeding brought by Mrs. Ireland (Myrna Loy) over a misunderstanding. Did you notice though, even after four years of marriage the Ireland's were sleeping in separate beds.I'm pretty sure I saw something about this in another film but just chalked it up to a writer's imagination, but this time when the story introduced a Lunacy Commission I had to look it up. Turns out there was such a thing; in England a Lunacy Commission was a public body established to oversee asylums and the welfare of the mentally ill. In New York, the state legislature did away with it's own version of a Lunacy Commission which it considered a patronage racket. That occurred in the Winter of 1940, so it appears that the screen writers got this one in just under the wire.Reading some of the other viewer comments there seems to be high regard for Powell's cross dressing caper in this one and he did do a pretty good job as his own sister. But the stunt that really caught my eye was that time he did a remarkable flip with a ladder on the grounds of the sanitarium, with his head winding up in between the rungs! I hope he was lucky enough to do that in one take! I'm sure Thin Man fans will get a kick out of this film. It came out just about the middle of that series of pictures, with Powell and Loy pretty much in the same mode as a lovey dovey couple until things go awry with Isobel Grayson (Gail Patrick), Ward Willoughby (Jack Carson), the ping ponging elevator, the Bristol Party, the watch stealing cockatoo, divorce court, the Lunacy Commission and that blasted infernal rug. At times you can even make sense of it.

"Love Crazy" may be the funniest movie ever made. It may be William Powell's best film and the best of the baker's dozen of Powell and Myrna Loy pairings. Those all were so very good. But this one clearly is the zaniest film Powell ever made. And what a beautiful premise and great plot. Pity those viewers who can't get by the absurdity of a notion to enjoy the hilarity of a wonderfully crafted and acted comedy. And, friends, this truly is a screwball comedy. Everything about "Love Crazy" is superb. The plot, settings, camera work and all technical aspects are tops – although these don't weigh very heavily in the film. The screenplay, witty dialog, pratfalls, and hilarious scenes are wonderful examples of great writing and direction. Top that off with the leading co-stars and a superb supporting cast, and we have one of the best, most endearing and enduring 99 minutes of fun and laughter ever put on film. And this is one of those times when a film's title is right on the mark. This is a crazy film about love. William Powell is Steve Ireland and Myrna Loy is Susan Ireland. They are celebrating four years of blissful marriage. This is the one film that has cast perfectly the proverbial spiteful mother-in-law. Mrs. Cooper is played by Florence Bates. I don't know if there's ever been another movie made in which the unanimous sentiment of an audience for a wishful act of violence was ever more prevalent. That should tell one something about how well written and acted this movie is – we all want to throw Mrs. Cooper off the balcony. But her character – with our disdain for her -- is an ingenious ploy to feed the comedy that ensues. And Powell is the masterful dupe of all of this – to our great enjoyment and pleasure. This is another excellent supporting performance by Jack Carson. He was an outstanding actor who never achieved male lead status, but who could play any role to perfection. In my younger years I never cared much for him; but with some wisdom of age one can see how much his acting and roles contributed to the success and enjoyment of many films. Carson's Ward Willoughby is central to several of the hilarious scenes, including one of the funniest ever put on film.Gail Patrick shines as Isobel Grayson, the one-time girlfriend of Steve's whom he left for Susan. Donald MacBride is perfect as her wealthy and growling jealous husband, "Pinky" Grayson. Vladimir Sokoloff is hilarious in his own right as Dr. Klugle. Sidney Blackmer plays Steve's attorney and friend, George Renny, to perfection. And one of my favorite of all the character actors of Hollywood's golden years gives another of his outstanding comedy performances. Sig Ruman is Dr. Wuthering, head of the Wuthering sanitarium in the country. "Love Crazy" does something masterful that only the very best comedies achieve. It has several scenes of some length in which the situations themselves are hilarious and they are then embellished by the running dialog of the scenes. If one thinks of the comedy of the Marx Brothers or "I Love Lucy," this distinction is clear. While they had witty and crazy dialog and hilarious antics at times, ne'er the 'twain were met. In other words, the antics were going on sans witty dialog; and when there was funny dialog, there were no antics. On the other hand, the "Carol Burnett Show" on TV often created such situation plus dialog comedy that we see in "Love Crazy."A sure sign of a movie's lasting quality is its ability to make one laugh in repeated viewings. "Love Crazy" does that for me. It has some of the single funniest scenes ever put on film. Myrna Loy and Jack Carson have me in stitches in a long scene Susan sets up to make Steve jealous. The courtroom scene recounting Steve's "normal" behavior to prove his sanity keeps me laughing throughout. Steve's shenanigans at Mrs. Bristol's party make me laugh time and again. His appearance before the Sanity commission is a riot, with all the doctors. When Susan leaves later, she says there is a nut in the room, "but it isn't Steve." The escape scenes at the sanitarium with Ward and Steve, and then Steve and Dr. Wuthering are hilarious. Steve's makeup as his sister, Miss Ireland from Saskatchewan, leads to very funny scenes. The best of these that has me guffawing every time is Miss Ireland's physical defense of Steve against Ward Willoughby's barbs. When Miss Ireland first slaps Ward, the looks on the faces of everyone are enough to leave one rolling in the aisles with laughter. The follow-ups just build the laughter. One thing that helps a person get over a case of melancholy is laughter. Short of having family or friends who can help induce the jollies when one in downcast, a good movie can help remedy the blues. But not just any movie will do. It has to be a wholesome, very funny film with dialog and/or situations to make one laugh. Most of the screwball comedies of the black and white era would do. Some are sure-fire bets to relieve the low moods. One of the very best of these is "Love Crazy."

I believe every great actor should have at least one movie in which they get to go completely over the top and out of character (Barrymore in Twentieth Century, Howard in Its Love I'm After, Bogart in Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Stewart in Vertigo). For William Powell, Love Crazy provided him with his opportunity in easily the most slapstick oriented comedy ether Powell or Myrna Loy ever done; from heads being stuck in elevator doors to characters slipping on the same mat several times throughout the film. It's not John Barrymore levels of over the top but compared to William Powell's usual soft spoken persona it's pretty over the top.Love Crazy is the William Powell show all the way, showcasing the complete range of his abilities as a comedic actor in a plot which is like a tabloid newspaper story turned into a screwball comedy; a jokey representation of mental illness which wouldn't be politically correct by today's standards. All the more fun then! One of the scenes from any film Powell has appeared which I feel best demonstrates his comedic timing is when he is tasked with convincing a lunacy commission of his sanity by placing shaped blocks into their corresponding holes. It's such a basic task yet his overzealous confidence he still manages to convincingly screw it up; it works on so many levels. Yet as the film progresses, I end up feeling particularly sorry for his character due to his failed marriage.But not to undo Myrna Loy with her stand out moment being a surprisingly erotic scene with Jack Carson in which both of them are bare shouldered. On top of that I find myself in awe that there is a straight up dick joke in this movie ("He has to have his torso free when he shoots his bow and arrow"). Of all the sneaky jokes they got past the censors I've heard in screwball comedies this is one of the most unsubtle. Likewise Gail Patrick who plays Powell's former girlfriend appears to be a bit of a nymphomaniac; badly wanting him shortly after meeting for the first time in years despite both of them now being married, not to mention it's his anniversary night! Just listen as the seductively tells Powell "Stevie I'm bored!". There's quite a bit of setting up in Love Crazy but the payoffs are worth it. Love Crazy also gets a big boost from the apartment sets designed by Cedric Gibbons. The painted backdrops of skyscrapers high in the sky and the art deco shading, it's beautiful.I managed to go into Love Crazy unaware of the screwball hijinks which occur during the third act. If it's not too late for you, I recommend doing the same. You'll be left in a state of disbelief that what occurs on screen is really happening.

Sometimes I look up TCM User Reviews on a movie before I watch it... glad I didn't this time. Immediately upon seeing who the stars were, I set my DVR because I DVR anything Powell/Loy. I definitely had more fun watching it in complete ignorance of content, although I must say I almost 'paused' a bit into it to see where the heck the plot was going per the 'teaser'. After the fun 'loving' first 15 minutes, the writers played a game of 'top this contrivance' amongst each other in penning the script. I was having so much fun chuckling at the 'seeing is believing' stuff and recognizing that anyone being told of such occurrences would, of course, respond with a 'yeah, right' that I paused to see how much time was left in the movie...happy to see 40-50 more minutes of Powell/Loy was yet to come. The 1.40 hour movie took me about 2 1/2 hours to watch, as I replayed sections to hear what each was saying in some of the talk-over scenes, cause I knew it had to be funny, and to watch the reactions of the actors alongside the speaking actor, who we viewers usually keep our eyes on as a movie goes along instead of the background actors. I also like rewinding to watch for what I think are 'ad-libs' because unexpected reactions of individual characters playing off each other are extra FUNNY'S to catch. You'll really enjoy the point in this movie where you're hearing Myrna testify to William's sanity as she reasonably sees it, yet it defies 'common' logic; and YET, we viewers know everything she's saying is absolutely true. Moreso, it's fabulous to always know that it is those very behaviors of William that make her, outside of anyone else alive, love him so. We watch and love her reflecting her character off of him, so often surprising us with her ability to change her chic, straight-laced behavior to goofy corny with him. It is Powell's behaviors and how Myrna reacts to them in all their movies that is really the Key to the Endearment we feel for them as a couple. NO WAY would we, their audience, have ever allowed the movie writers to take this couple away from us with a truly 'final' divorce ending.Knowing Powell/Loy films are finite and I had seen almost all of them, I couldn't help but feel a bit of bittersweetness, wishing a young William and Myrna were still around to bring life to more well-written scripts. It's only in the last 8 months (my retirement) that I've even become familiar with the 20's, 30's and 40's comedies and all those soooooo funny actors and actresses, only of few of whom I had heard the names of, although I had not seen any of their hilarious movies. I now feel really sad for anyone who hasn't seen these old comedies where the FUNNY is driven by intelligently funny scripts, superb facial expressions, superb 'machine- gun' talking delivery, and superb physical movements (and not all pratfalls) that elicit extended laughter, constant chuckling and consistent smiling. You'll like this movie…although you'll wish you could reach into it and grab Myrna's Mother and throw her off the porch now and then.