good back-story, and good acting

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

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

...this movie rapidly descends into maudlin melodrama that is practically unwatchable. The movie starts out with promise with a feisty Granny Lesie (May Robson) pulling a rather hung over Ned Riley (William Powell) out of bed to bail playful star Mona Leslie (Jean Harlow) out of jail. These early scenes would make any fan of these three want to stick around for more, but believe me, you'll regret that decision. Things go downhill rapidly when Mona meets avid fan and drunken playboy Bob Harrison Jr. (Franchot Tone), whose enthusiasm wanes and drunkenness worsens after the two are hastily married. Every indignity you can think of is flung at Harlow's character at a time in Harlow's life when she herself had recently been through a great personal tragedy, and you just get the feeling that MGM is using that tragedy to sell movie tickets. It really is a sad spectacle for any Harlow fan.The melodrama grows to ridiculous proportions by the end of the film, with Mona Leslie even being booed by fans and her giving a preposterous on stage speech as a result. All of this just crowds out any promise with which the film started. Avoid this one.

This being Black History Month, I checked this movie out from the library because IMDb mentioned this among the films that had Nina Mae McKinney in it, specifically the "Reckless" number. Well, she's in it all right, at the end of the song when, after the Jean Harlow character gets murdered near the number's end, Ms. McKinney sings the final verses. Trouble is, her singing is in a group shot at that end that's so far away you can't really see her on the television screen. I'm thinking this has to do with the fact that, unless they played domestics, black performers weren't allowed to be on the same screen as their white counterparts, not unlike the line in Show Boat that I saw and heard this morning about the same thing concerning the play in there when Julie almost got arrested. While I was looking for Nina during the rest of the picture, I got mostly bored with the plot of the triangle between Harlow, William Powell, and Franchot Tone. It was interesting when I recognized many of the supporting players: Nat Pendleton, Ted Healy after leaving The Three Stooges to Columbia, May Robson, Rosalind Russell, a 14 year-old Mickey Rooney in a couple of scenes, frequent Marx Brothers foil Margaret Dumont as one of the women at the end yelling at the Harlow character to get off the stage, and, as the jockey Gold Dust, former "Our Gang"-er Allen "Farina" Hoskins. Other than that, the dialogue went for such long stretches, especially when the Powell character was drunk, that I was just waiting for the movie to end. I did sort of liked the final 5 minutes but that's it. So for all that, I don't really recommend Reckless.

Laughs, cheers and tearsThis 1936 MGM production has much going for it. Again Harlow rules. Harlow’s performance featuring her unparalleled comedic timing, dancing, and most of all pathos sets the pace for excellent support from the ever smooth Bill Powell. This winner was directed by Victor Fleming (Wizard of Oz, Gone With The Wind etc), and written by David O Selznick (Portrait of Jenny, Duel in the Sun etc). A very young 15 year old Mickey Rooney has an unbilled 2 walk-ons and shows what will come as he progresses up his ladder to stardom. Supporting these are a glib Nat Pendleton, and Ted Healy as Powell’s pals. Healy by the way gave a start to the 3 Stooges in his vaudeville act. But that’s another story. Allan Jones has a singing number here. MGM thought well enough of him to give him a staring roll to Irene Dunne in the following years great production of Show Boat, another must see extravaganza. This film is not a comedy though it starts out as one. Developing quickly into a drama, and eventually a tragedy. Reckless is lavish and is not to be missed. Bring some Kleenex. Again Harlow rules.

Why do I give a movie with obvious skips a "10". I guess you could call me a nutty Harlow fan! That's so untrue. The cast is wonderful, William Powell is one of the grandest actors of them all. Franchot Tone is so romantic and classy. May Robson plays her matronly role with just the right tone. Even Nat Pendleton and Ted Healy bring the needed roughness to the scenery.************** SPOILER ************************ But what sets my view of the film, what redeems it for me, is that final scene in the theater. Harlow alone singing a song and then being heckled by the entire audience. She picks herself up and defends herself. To top all this all off, we have her encore. She sings to the audience while Powell, just inside the curtain, close enough to touch her, proposes to her between her lines. It is a tender, surprisingly effective moment that brings anyone with a shred of heart left into them to shed a tear. It is a well directed scene and for what it's worth, appropriately the best scene in the movie.************* END OF SPOILER ******************Watch this movie, to know just how few movies there are to see Harlow in. Appreciate it for her every trademark gesture. Enjoy it for its pure entertainment value. Enjoy it for Jean.