Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

writers_reign ... nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet. Alas, songwriter and novelist Kay Swift lost out badly in this adaptation of her novel which sees Irene Dunne clearly portraying someone based on Swift, i.e. a sophisticated Manhattan-based songwriter improbably 1) attending a rodeo in Madison Square Garden, 2) agreeing to a date with bronco buster Fred MacMurray (in real life ten years younger than the then 52 year old Dunne) and 3) marrying him and moving to his 'ranch' in the West and taking on his two sub-teen daughters, Natalie Wood and Gigi Perreau. In terms of comedies Dunne had made her fair share, especially with Cary Grant (The Awful Truth, My Favorite Wife) of actual funny comedies and also displayed her dramatic chops - her previous film to this was I Remember Mama, but she must have been aware of times' winged chariot to sign on for this turkey whose idea of conflict is having her shoot neighbour William Demarest's prize bull thinking it was a cougar and, oh, yes, Demarest controls all the water in the area.. In terms of funny it makes Russell Brand seem like Jack Benny.

moonspinner55 Lou Breslow and Doris Anderson adapted Kay Swift's semi-autobiographical book (the uncredited "Who Could Ask For Anything More") about a female songstress from New York City who has a whirlwind courtship and marriage to a widower cowboy named Chris. She makes all the sacrifices and learns to love life down on his dilapidated ranch, while the cowboy's two young daughters test their new step-mother out and the cowboy-husband spends his time mending fences and hunting cougars. By-the-numbers comedy-romance admittedly doesn't score points against Irene Dunne's smart cookie of a wife (she has a few entanglements, which are neatly ironed out). Still, the screen-union of Dunne with the somewhat-malevolent Fred MacMurray never convinces--and when he speaks to her, it's always as if he had just inherited another daughter. Kay Swift wrote the simple, singalong tunes, Gigi Perreau and Natalie Wood are adorable as the youngsters, though the script never resolves the heroine's out-of-her-element predicament. Thus, the rosy ending doesn't quite wash. ** from ****

krdement I love this movie.Irene Dunne is one of my favorite actresses and one of America's all-time greats. She is typically marvelous in this film. Fred MacMurray is likewise a real personal favorite. Together this wonderful, talented duo create two likable, sympathetic characters that you root for and that you want to find happiness together. Of course, it is never in doubt that they will end up together, but the complications along the way are made much more enjoyable and the slapstick is boosted beyond the ordinary because of the great personal charm and fantastic timing of these two leads. Irene Dunne, in particular, is one of the masters of comic timing.Natalie Wood and Gigi Perreau both portray their characters very credibly. Their enthusiasm over the wrist watches that Dunne gives them is also a neat reflection of the simpler values and expectations and the more modest means of that time. They have some cute dialog. In her youth Wood may have been cuter, but seldom as realistic as in this role. Perreau may be remembered best as the young Lark in Enchantment, with David Niven.The clever repartee between Dunne and William Demarest when she first arrives at the ranch is classic 30's and 40's script writing. The scene when MacMurray's cronies wake him up at 5 a.m. to go cougar hunting and then all make themselves at home in his bedroom on the double bed with Dunne is also a load of fun. (Please note that this was still in the double bed era of film-making, which is also something I kind of watch for.) The running gag about the dog is a lot of fun, too.One aspect of this movie seems to get overlooked. It provides a glimpse of life among working people in rural (and even small town) America that is not too distant in time, but is all but forgotten. Those people had to work a great deal harder at life than we do today. Cooking and washing were real chores. Life on a ranch was especially difficult. Besides the opportunities for slapstick humor, these chores provide us a glimpse of that hard life that people lived not so long ago. When MacMurray comes home late one night after butchering a steer, he is beat. His weariness is palpable. The scene is full of warmth between the characters, and it reflects real understanding of that hard life.This film offers both slapstick and great comic dialog. However, it also provides endearing characters in situations with just enough real-life type conflict to make this romantic comedy very charming and poignant. In the hands of a lesser cast, this movie might have been very ordinary, but because of Dunne and MacMurray it is a real delight. I regard this as one of the last of the screwball comedies - and a very good one. I have tried to find it on DVD.PS - Irene Dunne's last film appearance was in It Grows on Trees (1952), a wonderful and quirky modern day (1950's) fairy tale. It is very rare, and utterly delightful. But if you don't like this film, you probably should not bother with it.

Neil Doyle IRENE DUNNE, for some strange reason, is called "Buckshot" by her cowboy husband FRED MacMURRAY. That alone is supposed to be funny and endearing. Not.Too bad that after the smash success of films like LIFE WITH FATHER, Irene Dunne was so desperate for good parts that she agreed to settle for a film like this--tedious, predictable, banal sort of comedy that struggles manfully to be funny by putting her through some slapstick paces that are about as funny as a stubbed toe.Occasionally there's a lull in the proceedings that gives Dunne and MacMurray a chance to remind us that they're still the same old likable stars. But then the script takes over again and forces them to play a series of unlikely scenes.For good measure, they have two obnoxious girls (played by a plain looking Natalie Wood who clearly did have an awkward stage, and Gigi Perreau). They add nothing to the charm or situations which strain for laughs. One of the comedic highlights is supposedly when Dunne shoots a neighbor's pet bull. You get my drift.You can skip this one. Even the presence of two top-flight stars can't save it from being the most inappropriately titled comedy of the decade.