not as good as all the hype

Dreadfully Boring

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

"The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" is a madcap comedy that earned playwright Sidney Sheldon an Oscar for best original screenplay in 1947. The plot isn't special, but it's quite quirky. And it fits nicely as the frame to enclose a lot of comedy. The screenplay – the script, is what drives this film. "Bobby-Soxer" is filled with one-liners, retorts, and one-oneupmanship quips. Toss in some sight gags and you have a thoroughly enjoyable film. But what really tops this one off is the cast. Each role plays perfectly off the others. And that raises it to the level of riotously funny. At times, I found the dialog almost too fast to catch all the barbs and witticisms. I wonder how many people might have missed some of this film when it was released way back when. Were there fans then who went to the same movies three, or four or more times? Just to catch all the clever dialog they may have missed? This is where DVDs come in handy today. We can back up and replay what we may have missed.This film has two lengthy scenes which are laugh fests – one at a public picnic and one at a night club. Cary Grant, as Dick Nugent, is a master of comedy dialog. Myrna Loy as Judge Margaret Turner is a hoot with her straight face throughout. Rudy Vallee is very funny as Tommy, the jealous assistant D.A. Shirley Temple as Margaret's teenage sister Susan, Ray Collins as Uncle Matt (Dr. Beemish), and Harry Davenport as retired judge Thaddeus all bring much hilarity to their respective roles. The rest of the supporting cast shine as well. Since the script drives the humor in this film, some witty lines may help whet other's appetites. Susan asks Dick about his background. Dick says, "I did suffer. When I was 10, my mother and father had a double suicide pact. They made it. I was sent to an orphanage. Some days they didn't beat me. Then one night, I escaped. I ran away to New York. I used to steal." Susan: "What did you steal?" Dick: "Beg your pardon?" Susan: "What did you steal?" Dick: "Crusts of bread … and things. One time I stole a valise. There were paints and paint brushes inside. So I began to paint. Then they got me. I was sent to a reform school, but I escaped again." Susan: "Go on." Dick: "Back to New York. A wealthy society lady saw my work, fell in love with me and sent me to art school. The rest is history." "Susan: "How wonderful. How terribly wonderful."Susan: "You're going to make me an old maid." Margaret: "Only until you're 18." Susan: "I don't consider geometry a part of life." Margaret: "Mr. Roberts does. He says you're the first student to define a triangle as two women crazy about one man. You know I'd die for you, only sometimes it's very hard living with you."Margaret (on the bench): "It's important that I consider only the evidence presented in this matter. " District attorney: "Very well, your honor." Margaret: "Don't sulk about it." Turning to Dick: "Mr. Nugent, I've met your type before. In fact, I might say I sentence them every day of the week."Susan's high school boyfriend has just enlisted in the Army. Susan: "Well you don't have to make such a big thing about it, Jerry. After all, the war is over." Jerry: "I know, but guns go off by accident sometimes, or a fellow could trip on a bayonet."Susan, to Dick: "Do you know what you are? You're a regular Blackbeard." Margaret: "Bluebeard, dear." Susan: "Well, a rose by any color. " Dick: "Now, everybody's too excited." Tommy: "Nobody's excited." Jerry: "I'd punch you right in the nose if I wasn't afraid you'd break my jaw."When Susan finds out her sister, Margaret is attracted to Dick: "Why not send me to prison and get me out of the way?" Uncle Matt comes into the room: "I couldn't help overhearing – I had my ear to the door." Matt: "A girl her age is entitled to growing pains, isn't she?" Margaret: "Yes, but Susan's growing pains are rapidly become a major disease."Dick goes into his apartment and Matt is there. Dick: "How did you get in here?" Matt: "Well, the door was closed, so I opened it and came right in." Dick: "Well, you can open it again and go right out."Apartment bellboy: "I'm 15." Susan: "I'm 17." Bellboy: "That's okay I like older women."Matt, to Dick in his jail cell: "Well, on the whole, I think you'll find our Western penology system is quite modern." Dick: "Well, that's a load off my mind."Margaret: "Mr. Nugent, I have good news." Dick: "You're going to hang me." Margaret: "I'm afraid I'm the one who ought to be hanged." Dick: "Won't I sit down?" Margaret: "Please do."Margaret: "Please don't have any illusions about this matter. I'm dong this against my better judgment. I would just as soon my sister we're going out with an actor." Matt: "Judge Turner doesn't exactly mean that." Dick: "Oh, I was just wondering." Matt: "She means, as head of a psychiatric clinic, that I've recommended you as a vital therapy measure." Dick: "Hmmm. That's great! Recommended for children!"Margaret: "Thank you! You said that gracefully. Perhaps the result of practice?" Dick: "You said that ungraciously. Perhaps the result of practice?" Margaret: "I had that coming."Margaret: "It's nothing. I'm sure you didn't know she'd be here." Dick: "Are you sure you're sure I didn't know she'd be here?"

A comedy that's cuter than it is funny, but it's enjoyable all the same. Cary Grant stars as a playboy painter who becomes the object of a crush by teenager Shirley Temple. Temple's older sister (Myrna Loy), a judge (a woman judge, even!) doesn't approve whatsoever. You can see where this is going from frame one. Loy's role is the film's major weakness. She feels like she doesn't belong in the film, and is generally such a wet blanket that you never want her to end up with fun-loving Grant. Not that you want him ending up with Temple, either, but his interactions with Temple are the film's highlight. Loy's role is just an excuse for the film to come up with tons of sexist jokes about how she wouldn't be so high and mighty if she'd just land herself a husband. Co-starring Rudy Vallee.

I did not know that Shirley Temple ever made any movies past puberty, so I watched this little film with great interest. What would she look like as a teenager? Was she still charming? Well, I can tell you that yes, she is still charming and cute and now womanly too, with curves in all of the right places. Nice to know that. Otherwise, the theme here which involved a teenage Shirley having a crush on an older man, seemed appropriate somehow. I mean after all, Shirley Temple the child star always seemed much more comfortable around people much older than herself than she was around her peers. So it all made sense to me. Now throw in Cary Grant as the older love interest, and I found myself smiling quite a bit. But you know, it is a silly film. I mean, its relatively intelligent, but the theme is not. And when I turned it off midway through, it looked like Cary was developing a romantic interest in Shirley's cool tempered lawyer sister rather than with Shirley herself. I guess that didn't suit me too well. I wouldn't have wanted to see her sadness when she finds this out, to see her pout and cry. Poor little Shirley Temple losing at love. And then I kind of wondered at that point if perhaps this might be a reflection on her real life relationships as well. I mean shunning your own peers in favor of adults might make finding a suitable mate difficult, in film as well as in the real world. That hunky basketball playing boyfriend in the movie wasn't all that bad, Shirley. But you elected to pursue an unrealistic love interest instead and probably got squashed down as a result! So i guess I turned the movie off because I think she deserved better. She deserves happiness. She did not make any films after 1950, so I'm figuring that once she became an adult, she put the past behind her and moved on. To a happy life as an adult now? I hope so. To see her become a tragic figure like Gary Coleman would have been too much to bear. But I think the films she made as a teen were not that popular which sort of suggests to me that others felt the same way she did. That it was time for her to move on and live a normal life. That she is still alive today makes me feel good and implies that she did find happiness as an adult. But now she is surrounded everyday with people much younger than herself, not older. Does that make you sad, Shirley? Hopefully not. I wish you well....

I wasn't expecting to much from this movie but was pleasantly surprised. Though the plot is a quite far fetched I couldn't help but fall in love with this fairy tale. So often with modern Hollywood comedies the laughs are from base and uninteresting humour. Not so here. The jokes are well thought out and do not challenge ones intelligence. I'm not a prude and the humour here is not prudish. Sometimes very subtle....as when Grant admires Loy's breasts at their meeting in an upscale restaurant. A prime example of a 1940s screen writer slipping one past the Hollywood censors. This movie has no dead spots...no lulls and entertains from beginning to end.