This movie has a truly stellar cast, and they all give wonderful performances - to the extent that they can with a promising but in the end very unsatisfying script.
The idea behind this movie - that dishonest, "bad" people can be won over to honesty and goodness by goodness - isn't a very interesting one. Nor is it helped by the one weak spot in an otherwise very strong series of performances, Minnie Dupree's Miss Fortune. She is so treacly nice that any adult would have a problem not dismissing her a simple-minded. Whether this is because the role was poorly written or because Dupree did a poor job of performing it, I can't say. She comes across as more pitiful than good, and it creates something of an empty hole at the center of the movie.
Despite that, Gaynor, Fairbanks, and Young give stellar performances as cads who are eventually converted to caring kindness. For Gaynor's character that isn't a big change, but it takes time for the other two. In the process, the three actors, all first rate, give wonderful, engaging performances.
Goddard was also a first-rate actress. In her case, unfortunately, the script offers little to work with.
This is in no sense a bad movie. It's just frustrating, because it features some very wonderful actors in their prime trying their best to make something wonderful out of a script that just doesn't give them much to work with.
The idea behind this movie - that dishonest, "bad" people can be won over to honesty and goodness by goodness - isn't a very interesting one. Nor is it helped by the one weak spot in an otherwise very strong series of performances, Minnie Dupree's Miss Fortune. She is so treacly nice that any adult would have a problem not dismissing her a simple-minded. Whether this is because the role was poorly written or because Dupree did a poor job of performing it, I can't say. She comes across as more pitiful than good, and it creates something of an empty hole at the center of the movie.
Despite that, Gaynor, Fairbanks, and Young give stellar performances as cads who are eventually converted to caring kindness. For Gaynor's character that isn't a big change, but it takes time for the other two. In the process, the three actors, all first rate, give wonderful, engaging performances.
Goddard was also a first-rate actress. In her case, unfortunately, the script offers little to work with.
This is in no sense a bad movie. It's just frustrating, because it features some very wonderful actors in their prime trying their best to make something wonderful out of a script that just doesn't give them much to work with.