Beanbioca
As Good As It Gets
Ava-Grace Willis
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Matylda Swan
It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
JLRMovieReviews
Clark Gable is a Broadway producer who feels his age and is ready to retire. Added to it is the fact that his ex, Lilli Palmer, pops in constantly for the alimony and aggravates him. Carroll Baker is his secretary, who's using her job as a stepping stone in her acting career. When she discloses to him, she's been pining for him from the beginning. he jumps on this plot in a way to save a playwright's problems with his play - instead of an old man going after a young girl, switch it. The stars provide charm and a bit of the nostalgic feel for Gable's older films, like "Wife vs. Secretary," with similarities to boot. But the main problem of this film is that it goes on for far too long and is too talky. Barry Coe likes Carroll, but with her interest in Gable, she hardly gives Barry the time of day. With its predictable ending, this should have been much shorter with less talk and definitely less bickering. But not for that, this is a must-see film for Gable fans. You'll just feel wore out by the end.
lowenahouse
Along with "Teacher's Pet," "But Not For Me" is a topnotch showcase for Gable's talent for deft self-deprecation. Following heroic service in World War II (for which he was decorated), and the tragedy of wife Carole Lombard's death while entertaining with a USO troupe, he has matured as both a person and an actor. The personality remains appealing, unique even, but he is now a former superstar charmingly twitting his image as mega-heartthrob in decades of earlier film roles. Lilli Palmer plays his ironic and amused ex-wife in this sophisticated, intelligent romance. It's light comedy but (as with Powell & Loy's "The Thin Man") good writing and masterly acting elevate froth to satisfying entertainment.
moonspinner55
Clark Gable, in one of his final film roles, plays a theatrical producer fighting off the unwanted affections of his smitten juvenile secretary, later using his predicament as the basis for a new play. Odd to find latter-day Gable in such an outright piece of fluff; he looks a little unsure of himself initially, but eventually locates the spirit of the piece and warms up midway. As the lovestruck working girl, Carroll Baker is sweet yet also rather stiff, and her hair and clothes don't seem to match her age (she doesn't look like what other young ladies of this period might look like). Remake of 1935's "Accent on Youth" is hackneyed and coy, but the cast (including Lilli Palmer and Lee J. Cobb) manage to sell it despite shortcomings in the material and the handling. **1/2 from ****
theowinthrop
At the tail end of his film career Clark Gable made a series of movies where his co-stars were not in his age group. Up to 1956 his co-stars might have been younger than him (Lana Turner comes to mind) but more frequently they were still in their late 30s to early 50s like Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck, or Eleanor Parker. Then, at the tail end of the 1950s Gable made four movies where his co-stars were not within fifteen years of his age. These were TEACHER'S PET (with Doris Day), BUT NOT FOR ME (with Carol Baker), IT STARTED IN NAPLES (with Sophia Loren), and THE MISFITS (with Marilyn Monroe). In at least three of these films the co-star was as big a star as Gable. The exception is Baker, a promising actress in the period but one that never hit the same height of stardom as the others (her best recalled film role was HARLOW - ironically she played a great movie star who had fequently appeared opposite the young Gable). But if Baker lacked the magnetism of Day, Loren, or Monroe, her support to Gable is shared by an actress in his own age group again - Lily Palmer. And Palmer does her job very nicely.In BUT NOT FOR ME Gable's character - a Broadway Producer - revives his career and that of a once prize-winning playwrite (Lee J. Cobb) when he discovers his secretary (Baker) is in love with him, and is trying to keep his latest production (Cobb's recent play) from being discarded as a failure. Baker revitalizes Gable, and makes him think of remarrying. He was once married to his leading stage lady (Palmer) who divorced him because of differences over lifestyle and life choices. Palmer, who oozes grace and charm, wanted a husband who was interested in home life with her. Gable was too into his production and impressario career, as well as enjoying living life to the most publicly fullest. However, as she watches Gable, Baker, and Cobb rework the play and make it work, Palmer slowly sees Gable bending over to make himself seem younger than he is. In fact a running joke in the film is Gable's confusion of his birth date and age, seemingly making it about ten or five years earlier than it is.But Palmer keeps bringing Gable and Baker back to earth about their age differences. When Gable takes Baker into Central Park for a romantic moment alone on a bench, Palmer shows up, and gleefully remembers how he took her there too...years before. Gable does not appreciate this ("Are you sure it's safe to be alone here at this late hour?", he asks Palmer. "You might get stabbed!"). Eventually Gable sees the light...he and Palmer end up together again at the end, her helping him with his various pills in the closing moments of the film.The operative word in the film is charm. Not only Palmer in needling Gable back to his senses, but also (surprisingly) Cobb, as he reforms from his hard drinking failure to his sober success. Even Thomas Gomez is funny in this film, playing a character based on Greek movie theatre tycoon Spyros Skouras. Cobb dislikes money men (Gomez is a potential play backer), and tells Gomez so, saying "Who financed Shaw?" "Who financed Shakespeare?" "Who financed Sophocles?" An angry and fed-up Gomez shouts, "I did!" Taken aback, Cobb asks, "You?". "Sure", says Gomez, "And the production flopped. Why do you suppose I left Greece to come here?"A friendly little film to watch, and possibly a wise one.
