Best movie of this year hands down!

A lot of fun.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Melville Shavelson's Academy Award-nominated "Houseboat" involves the common trope of "vivacious-but-goofy woman turns serious man's life upside down" (also seen in "Bringing Up Baby", "What's Up, Doc?" and "Something Wild"). But how can you not love seeing Sophia Loren onscreen? Cary Grant's State Department employee is the archetypal man from the 1950s: straightforward, always wearing a suit and tie, and expecting everyone around him to be as no-nonsense as he is. The '60s were a reaction to this attitude.*Admittedly, a lot of the movie shows its age. Many of the family interactions are too cute for my taste. The movie's real joy is seeing Sophia Loren in some of those revealing outfits (well, as revealing as was allowed in 1958). It's not any sort of great movie, but enjoyable enough for its length.Watch for Murray Hamilton (Mr. Robinson in "The Graduate" and the mayor in "Jaws") and Kathleen Freeman (the nun in "The Blues Brothers") in early roles.*Tuli Kupferberg of The Fugs was of the opinion that there was always reason for optimism, because, as he put it, no one who lived through the '50s would've predicted the '60s.

Sorry, but HOUSEBOAT has all the charm of a sugary half-hour sit-com stretched out to feature length. Wholesome and sexy-looking SOPHIA LOREN in real life was a total turn-on for CARY GRANT (he wanted to marry her) who probably insisted that she be his co-star in this little romp. But the result is a predictable romantic comedy with an annoying song (sung by Sophia) that is just as cliché-ridden as the script. Too bad these two co-starred in another little disaster called THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION--sounds like a description of their on again/off again stormy love affair in real life.Once the scene shifts to the houseboat, the atmosphere is claustrophobic rather than cheery and you keep wondering how long it's going to take for Grant and Loren to realize they'd be happy together.Grant was maturing nicely by the late '50s, but I wish he'd been paired with more mature actresses beyond their twenties, since Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren seem much too young for him. It would have been nice to see him make a film with someone like Olivia de Havilland--who, like Ingrid Bergman and Deborah Kerr, would have made a more suitable romantic partner on screen during the '50s.The kids remain non-entities, the humor is forced, the situations are just silly--and yet, there are some who find this harmless fluff to be highly enjoyable. I didn't.Summing up: Passes the time but only Grant's most loyal fans will want to see it more than once.

Cary Grant, prominent diplomat and widower, is trying to get acquainted again with his three kids, Paul Petersen, Mimi Gibson, and Charles Herbert. He's also got a sister-in-law, Martha Hyer, crushing out on him big time.But after the youngest kid, Herbert, wanders away after a concert, he meets Sophia Loren who is also running away from her conductor father, Eduardo Ciannelli. They are soul mates Herbert and Loren and before long she's moved in on the Grant family.Which is forced by circumstance I won't reveal to live on a houseboat in the woods in Maryland. The Houseboat and its many problems lend itself to a whole lot of physical problems and one rather dramatic one, when one of the kids nearly drowns. Cary gets a lot of good mileage out of the comedy.This was Cary and Sophia's second film together and it was one big improvement on the overblown Pride and the Passion. No doubt that the two of them were still involved from The Pride and the Passion lends a lot of truth in the scenes Grant and Loren play together.Also look for a nice performance by Harry Guardino who's the one who is responsible for the group being on the Houseboat.Houseboat is a nice family comedy and hasn't aged a bit from the Fifties when it was made.

Ordinarily, I kind of enjoy these tame old Sixties comedies, but watching Cary Grant in a role written for a B- or C-lister is always painful. As a romantic male lead, there's never been anybody better, but comic dad parts are best left to the Paul Dooleys of the world.The kids are remarkably charm-free, the novelty of the houseboat is tiresome, and the plot is entirely predictable.However, if Sophia Loren is your cup of tea, then by all means feast your eyes. She's at her luscious prime here. A better idea for all concerned might have been to dispense with the family angle, and have it be a romantic drama with Grant and Harry Guardino -- who does a lot with a little here -- vying for her charms.