Surprisingly incoherent and boring

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

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.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This might be THE Ginger & Fred movie for people who are not huge great fans of the memorable team. The reason being is that there is a little more story than the earlier ones, and also because it is really quite Funny, Thanks in NO small amount to Ginger's performance. Often somewhat rudely underestimated in the partnership( And after all, she did everything Fred did ,but backwards and in heels, AND had to be Damn Pretty while she was doing it(even the kindest amongst us would find it difficult to make a great argument for Fred as being a "looker"). Fred is often given solo numbers in their films but here Ginger gets a good one "The Yam' which she performs with great style and wit. In fact Ginger dominates the film , and it is quite reasonable to point out that after the partnership ended it was Ginger who had the most initial success winning a Best Actress Oscar for "Kitty Foyle". But it is ginger's fun and very amusing performance that makes the film particularly watchable.

RKO lured Astaire and Rogers into their eighth pairing by promising this film would be in color. But RKO was not faring well financially, so they reneged on their promise, and the final film was black and white. Note the song where Fred sings about Ginger's red cheeks, gold hair, and blue eyes.The story is silly but enjoyable. The antics of Ginger are captivating. Her character, with its cute ha-ha-ha laugh, is permitted whimsy and orneriness that are funny and endearing. Her performance gives the film a high energy that elevates it. Fred, always the master of props, incorporates golfing into one amazing solo dance routine.I think the music and the dancing are under-appreciated. The dance sequence that employs slow motion is mesmerizing and beautiful. It actually emphasizes the beauty of their movements and permits the viewer to better see the precise and athletic lines they achieve.A special mention about the dance number "The Yam". It might seem frivolous at first, but pay attention to the original dance moves within the performance. And have you ever seen a dance number where it looked like the performers were having more fun?The other actors are fine foils for Astaire and Rogers. In particular, note Jack Carson. He and Ginger both appeared in 1937's "Stage Door".

No movie with Astaire dancing can be anything less than half decent to watch. Which is pretty much where 'carefree' is for me.The main point is that this is a Rogers & Astaire movie, not Astaire & Rogers. Astaire is the sidekick for this outing and the movie suffers for it. Instead of pizazz and style, we get cutesy, instead of extraordinary, we get ordinary.The standard of songs doesn't help.Oh and the use of slow-mo for a dance sequence seems, although maybe innovative, a bad misstep, robbing us of the fluidity that was so special.In short, there are better ways to spend an hour and a half.

Admittedly most Astaire Rogers movies are kinda dumb, but Astaire as a psychotherapist is particularly unconvincing. He's actually a pretty terrible psychotherapist who seems to despise his patients and has no ethical code at all, but then, this is Hollywood psychotherapy, so that's understandable. And Astaire often plays characters who will run a truck over their best friend to get the girl. So I'm not sure in the context of his movies the story is particularly objectionable.The problem is the dialog is weak, the secondary characters aren't especially amusing (i.e. no one is as much fun as, say Edward Everett Horton) and the story is particularly engrossing.There are a couple of nice dances, including Astaire golfing while tap dancing and controlling a hypnotized Rogers, but the Irving Berlin songs are generally forgettable (except, of course, Change Partners and Dance with Me.This generically and irrelevantly named movie is certainly watchable, but it's not near Astaire/Roger's best.