Alicia I love this movie so much

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

MikeMagi Let's see...toss out the original plot of the thirties musical, replace it with a script about an endless series of misunderstandings, bowdlerize Cole Porter's lyrics (four letter words are puritanically slimmed down to three in the title tune) and stage the production numbers mechanically...and what have you got? A misfire. Or maybe proof that Paramount shouldn't have invaded MGM's territory. Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor battle the screenplay, putting some zest into their roles as a song-and-dance man and aspiring Broadway star. But Bing Crosby seems almost disinterested in the shipboard shenanigans and even his performance of Porter's "All Through the Night" lacks the song's wistful irony.

dailyshampoo48 I really enjoyed this movie. Typically, I hate remakes, but this one isn't so bad. Was Bing Crosby a better actor in the 30's and 40's? You bet your boots. Then again, I've never liked him in anything he's done, ever, and at least in 'Anything Goes' he doesn't try to act, and sticks to the crooning instead.Also, I love Donald O'Connor, and he is at the top of his form here. I didn't know who Mitzi Gaynor was, but now that I do, I really like her. She's a good dancer with a pleasant screen persona. Jeanmaire is okay. I liked her wardrobe.The art direction is good (I especially like the number where Donald and Bing sing the same song from two adjoining rooms) and the film hasn't been 'overproduced', as was the somewhat comparable 'White Christmas'. I hate it when musicals take themselves too seriously! The story is silly, but worrying about that sh*t is missing the point entirely.Don't believe these over-critical snobs. They're missing out, and they don't even know it.

scootmandutoo When the film "DeLovely" recently rekindled my love for Cole Porter's music, I encountered this DVD on sale and thought it would make a great addition to my collection. It didn't. For the most part, what a clunker.I realize that as great as the music is, "Anything Goes" is a bit dated as a musical, but this story, which has nothing to do with the original, is just dreadful.In addition to the uninspired plot, the songs that were added by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen are remarkably banal. Even more so, when one compares them to the Porter originals left in. It's sad that anybody watching might actually think they were Porter's own.Additionally, because of the prudishness of Hollywood, Porter's originals get censored too. An example of the lunacy is when, in a lyric, "4-letter word" becomes "3 letter-word." How trite can Hollywood be? 2 Porter songs in the beginning that get transformed into '50s-style jazz-dance numbers for the female leads lose all their charm from the butchery. The song "Anything Goes" has never been given a worse rendition.Bing Crosby, in his last Paramount picture, sleepwalks through it. Jeanmaire is not much better (especially her acting). It is no surprise that her career gravitated back to France after this.Mitzi Gaynor was her usual perky self, but the film gets saved somewhat by Donald O'Connor's presence and energy. The one Porter song that seems to have kept its charm is a nice Gaynor/O'Connor duet on "De-Lovely." While Porter purists will retch over this film (which was probably what his reaction was after seeing it, especially the added songs), it does offer up a period glimpse of Hollywood choreography from the mid-50s, along with the previously mentioned duet.Otherwise, it's the bottom, not the top.

glm39 It has all the trappings of an entertaining musical, but the chemistry is not there. A few of the musical numbers are worth seeing, but many are mediocre at best. The most peculiar thing about the movie is its substitution of boring, pedestrian new songs to take the place of Cole Porter's songs. Although Jimmy Van Heusen certainly composed some good songs in his day, the present "Ya Gotta Give the People Hoke," "Bounce Right Back," and "A Second-Hand Turban" are embarrassing. The producers couldn't find 3 more Cole Porter songs to use instead? Adding to the embarrassment is the bowdlerization of the song "Anything Goes," in which Mitzi Gayner is not even permitted to refer to authors' "four-letter words." Instead, we are nonsensically told that authors nowadays use only "three-letter words." Of course, such censoring of the lyrics of this song negate the entire premise of the song, which is that anything is permitted nowadays.Donald O'Connor has a very nice dance routine with children and a lot of bouncing balls in "Bounce Right Back," which is the most original number in the film. The comedy duos by O'Connor and Crosby fall flat, as does the vocal by Jeanmaire. Indeed, after hearing the mangled arrangement of her trying to sing "I Get a Kick Out of You," I actually stopped the movie and played a Frank Sinatra version in order to get the bad taste out of my ears. Mitzi Gayner is lively and attractive and does a good job in belting out her songs. Crosby is always good, although the arrangement and photography of his performance of "All Through the Night" were so anemic that one might doze through it, without danger of anything happening to wake one up.The plot is actually a very good basis for a musical comedy (a mix-up in which both Gayner and Jeanmaire are hired for the same part), but the writing is corny and stilted, there is little real humor, and the comic potential of the situation is simply not realized. Although the drama is of course not the most important part of a musical comedy, if it does not help to motivate the songs and does not create any suspense about what will happen, then the audience is just tapping its feet waiting for the next musical number.I think that if someone were to edit the film to include five or so of the best musical numbers only (no plot, no weaker songs), one might have 20 minutes of decent entertainment. But to watch the film for 106 minutes to get those 20 minutes of entertainment is not that pleasant.