Great Film overall

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I think Screwball Comedies are an acquired taste, and I wish I had acquired one. Here is an example of a highly acclaimed screwball comedy, and I have to say I missed much of the humor. In keeping with the genre within a genre, I found much of the story preposterous (on purpose, I suppose) and the humor was often forced. I always appreciated Irene Dunne in anything she was in, and she doesn't disappoint here. I found Melvyn Douglas' presence irritating and his performance grating, but I guess that's part of the charm of these comedies. The characters that inhabit them are always too accommodating and compliant in the face of outrageous behavior, rendering them less believable to the viewer (me). It's just my opinion, but count me out.Star rating is in the heading. The website no longer prints mine.

. . . says Melvyn Douglas as smug sophisticate Michael Grant, the perfect foil to Irene Dunne's title character, the virginal church organist Theodora Lynn, who lives with her two spinster aunts in her namesake Connecticut village and dashes off to big bad New York City with the seamy best sellers she writes to let off steam. It's as if Julie Andrews was playing a singing nun and an aging topless actress IN THE SAME MOVIE, instead of decades apart in THE SOUND OF MUSIC and S.O.B. The script for THEODORA GOES WILD is consistently clever, and the supporting cast doesn't miss a trick to sell the comedy. There's more than a grain of truth in THEODORA's depiction of New Yorkers as the biggest bumpkins of them all, something which still holds true in today's Weiner\Spitzer Era. The Connecticut Literary Circle Ladies seem dying to break into the chorus of THE MUSIC MAN's "Pick a Little, Peck a Little," if only Meredith Willson had written it in time! But whenever Miss Dunne drops into the husky rich bi*ch contralto of her "Caroline Adams" pseudonym, it's enough to melt the ice cubes in your martini!

ACT ONE: In the town of Lynnfield, Connecticut, publisher Jed Waterbury (Thomas Mitchell) causes a scandal when his newspaper publishes a serialization of "The Sinner," a risqué best-seller by Caroline Adams. The local Lynnfield Literary Society, a group of catty, gossiping ladies led by Rebecca Perry (Spring Byington), threatens to cancel their subscriptions unless the paper stops printing the novel. Waterbury is forced to concede.The uproar is especially troubling for Theodora Lynn (Irene Dunne), a member of the town's founding family, who lives with her two uptight maiden aunts (Elisabeth Wisdon; Margaret McWade). In fact, Theodora IS Caroline Adams, author of "The Sinner," a secret she keeps from her aunts, and from the town.ACT II: While in New York to meet with her publisher, Theodora meets Michael Grant (Melvyn Douglas), an obnoxious artist who designed her book's cover.Intrigued by the fact that "Caroline Adams" wants to keep her personal life a secret, Grant follows Theodora back to Lynnfield. He then woos her with that time-honored movie technique of behaving like an a--hole, a ploy that seems to work only in the movies.Grant tells Theodora he's going to "help her break out of her circumstances," even though she repeatedly tells him she prefers to keep things as they are. Grant gets Theodora to hire him as a "family gardener" by blackmailing her, threatening to tell her aunts that she is Caroline Adams.He takes up residence in the family's guest cottage, and drives the Lynn family (and the people watching the movie) crazy by his constant annoying whistling, and by setting his dog after the Lynn family's cat.The second act of this movie was one of the most screechingly-painful things I've watched in movies in a long time. The filmmakers treat the cat with nothing short of animal cruelty. They would be ARRESTED today for what they do on film to the cat! And we're supposed to think this is funny? But of course, Theodora falls in love with Grant. But when she finally stands up to her aunts and their gossipy, self-righteous lady friends, Grant leaves Theodora and flees back to New York.ACT III: For some reason, Theodora follows Grant back to New York. There, she learns he has a wife (Leona Maricle) whom he does not love. But he can't divorce her because Grant's father (Henry Kolker) is Lt. Governor of New York, and it would cause a scandal.Determined to "break Michael Grant out of his circumstances" (as he did for her, even though she didn't want him to), Theodora orders her publisher to publicize her as the scandalous author Caroline Adams (something she wouldn't let him do until now).Theodora becomes a celebrity author. She moves in to Michael Grant's apartment, and entertains reporters there, hoping to cause a scandal that will force Grant's wife to sue for divorce, even though Grant himself moves out of the apartment when Theodora moves in.(Side Note: The filmmakers had no respect for Asians. I really hated Toki, Grant's stereotypical Japanese manservant character, who is always going on about his "lemon pie.")Of course, Theodora's actions scandalize the town of Lynnfield, and cause a lot of trouble for her aunts. But eventually Theodora is welcomed home by the town, despite the efforts of the hypocritical gossip Rebecca Perry to make her an outcast.The Third Act of this movie ALMOST makes up for the horrible Second Act, because Theodora turns the tables on Grant, and drives him crazy by causing a scandal about him in the press, just as he did about her in her home town. It's a very sweet payback, and Irene Dunne has fun turning from a shy hometown girl into a wild celebrity author.But Theodora just doesn't realize that Michael Grant isn't worth it. Do they end up together at the end? Do they "live happily ever after," even though he's the most obnoxious guy she's ever met?This is a Hollywood movie. What do you think?

I have tried to watch this film twice with the identical outcome: I turned it off before it ended. I should add I am a devoted fan of Irene Dunne and slightly less so of Melvyn Douglas but I can't see how these two professionals could have stomached this drivel. It's supposed to be a comedy but there's really nothing funny about it and nobody comes off well. The Lynnfield residents are portrayed as provincial and small-minded while the New Yorkers are portrayed as pushy and inconsiderate alcoholics. Melvyn Douglas is at his most annoying here. There's nothing to redeem him. His character throws himself at Irene Dunne's character and when she flees in terror his reaction is to grin, no leer, as he watches her flight. The only character I found likable was Thomas Mitchell's newspaperman whose attempt to open his fellow citizens' minds is the departure point for this exercise in aggravation. Watch at your own risk.