After tracking down and watching the wonderfully entertaining Gracie Allen Murder Case I learned that Gracie had starred in yet another comedy mystery, so I tracked that down as well. 20 minutes in, I stopped watching. 20 minutes isn't that long (although it seemed it) but the movie is only a little over an hour, so it seems long enough to comment on.
Everything about that 20 minutes was awful. While The Gracie Allen Murder Case was simply Gracie doing her shtick with a mystery around the edges, this movie attempts to make her an actual character whose actions relate to the story. This means she can't be quite as goofy and has to spend more time on practical dialogue. So she's not as funny.
She is, however, as stupid, and that, combined with a complete lack of chemistry with the actor playing her husband, is a huge problem, because you can't figure out why he would marry her, or why he wouldn't have divorced her since. George Burns always managed to walk that fine line between annoyance and bemusement, but this guy can't do it. If they weren't going to use Burns (which they should have) then they needed a comedic actor on Gracie's level rather than some B-movie stiff.
The direction is awful. Pacing and performances are inert. The script is also quite poor, with weak dialogue. I have read in other user reviews here that the mystery itself might be interesting, but I don't see how it could be enough to make up for the movie's flawed presentation.
Everything about that 20 minutes was awful. While The Gracie Allen Murder Case was simply Gracie doing her shtick with a mystery around the edges, this movie attempts to make her an actual character whose actions relate to the story. This means she can't be quite as goofy and has to spend more time on practical dialogue. So she's not as funny.
She is, however, as stupid, and that, combined with a complete lack of chemistry with the actor playing her husband, is a huge problem, because you can't figure out why he would marry her, or why he wouldn't have divorced her since. George Burns always managed to walk that fine line between annoyance and bemusement, but this guy can't do it. If they weren't going to use Burns (which they should have) then they needed a comedic actor on Gracie's level rather than some B-movie stiff.
The direction is awful. Pacing and performances are inert. The script is also quite poor, with weak dialogue. I have read in other user reviews here that the mystery itself might be interesting, but I don't see how it could be enough to make up for the movie's flawed presentation.