ridiculous rating

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

This film adapts a Jean Kerr novel about her life with a professor-turned-theater-critic. Apparently, the novel is hilarious, but this film is anything but. Even the trailer -- which for a comedy should really capture the best laugh lines -- elicited barely a chuckle. Or maybe audiences then were less sophisticated: who knows? Anyway, the best diagnosis of this film is that David Niven is horribly miscast. Doris Day is her usual charming self, if not a bit anodyne (no surprise there, sorry!), but there is just nothing by way of chemistry between David Niven and her that would make you think that this is anything but an attempt to cash in on two brand-name actors. Niven's character alternates between flying off the handle and almost robotically delivering lines better suited for some boringly handsome American actor than for an actor of Niven's caliber.Moreover, when the story line takes the characters to the fictional Hudson River exurb of Hooton (which sounds more like somewhere in Appalachia or the Mayberry South than anything in that part of the world), the pastiche of crazy local townspeople is almost too much to bear.That it goes on for just under two hours adds insult to injury.

Worth it for the Metrocolor and the interior sets alone. Well-written. Well-acted. The story takes time in developing depth, but the depth is there. They don't force it. People mock Doris Day films mostly because they don't understand the worth of that, and are not accustomed to relaxing.The early part of the movie struggles a little to match the novel in evoking what is happening under the surface. Comedy-drama is not an easy genre, the strain shows a little. But well worth the ride. Relaxing and rewarding viewing, with satisfying (often surprising) laughs.

After playing a sexy interior decorator in "Pillow Talk", Doris Day went back to being homespun in "Daisies", and it's a defeatist move. With her blonde hair darker and swept back in a French bun, she's sweet and homey to her four kids, loving to husband David Niven, but where's the feisty Doris we all know and love? Based on Jean Kerr's book, Niven plays a theater-critic who capitulates on a personal review about a sexy actress, finding himself the Flavor of the Month. The kids are amusing brats, and the opening scenes in New York City have bounce, but the second-half on a ramshackle estate is dire--and so is the title song. It's a disappointment for Day's fans; she's wonderful as a sharp city woman, and she gets off a few good asides here, but bucolic doesn't do much for her, and there's little chemistry between she and fidgety Niven. ** from ****

Please Don't Eat The Daisies (1960) is a little comedy study that is one year too late in celebrating the 50s sexual stereotype of 'the little woman'. It stars David Niven and Doris Day as Lawrence and Kay McKay. He's a Drama critic. She just wants to be a housewife. Their happy, if cramped, in a Manhattan apartment with four sons, David (Charles Herbert), Gabriel (Stanley Livingston), George (Flip Mark) and Adam (Baby Gellert). However, at the behest of Kay, the family departs the elegance of New York for suburbia and clean living. Well, almost.Seems Lawrence can't or won't entirely leave the Big Apple behind. That his work precludes a complete departure from the social depravity of Broadway stage door Johnnies and scheming starlets is an angle played up when it appears as though Lawrence has decided to sack Kay and family for the lovely and flirtatious Deborah Vaughn (Janis Paige). Complications ensue as long time friends Suzie Robinson (Spring Byington) and Alfred North (Richard Haydn) get involved though only manage to make a simple case of mistaken judgment develop into a full blown comedy of errors. And then, of course, there's the whole mix up with Reverend McQuarry (John Harding) that begs to be reconsidered.Based on Jean Kerr's humorous novel, ably adapted by Isobel Lennart, director Charles Walters directs with his usual panache, but is decidedly saddled with, and forced to do damage control over, Niven's central performance as the blundering Lawrence. Honestly, the poor man's made to look ridiculous around every corner – an ill fit for one of the most accomplished and adroit British actors of his time. Day manages to come up with some winning moments, but she too has seem better days and far better material. This film perhaps foreshadows the sort of 'reluctant domestic' role that the rest of her tenure with Rock Hudson would carry over. Apparently, and despite its overall entertainment value shortcomings, there is something to be said for timing. 'Please Don't Eat The Daisies' played to solid box office and even found renewed life as a television sitcom starring Brian Keith. Go figure.The anamorphic transfer from Warner Bros. is just average. Colors are dated and sometimes even muddy. Blacks are not very deep or solid. Whites are generally clean but slightly yellow. Shadow and contrast levels are disappointing. Save Day's rendition of the title song, the audio sounds rather unnatural and strident. Dialogue is decidedly forward sounding with no spread across the channels. The only extra is a theatrical trailer.