While Bert Wheeler was a likable fellow, today his type would be like Jon Cryer, sidekick to the sexy star. But back in the day, he was the romantic lead, lightly funny, and sort of secondary to funny man Robert Woolsey. Their decade long teaming spanned Broadway and movies towards the end of the 1930's, but Woolsey's death ended Wheeler's stint as leading romantic interest (usually opposite the perky Dorothy Lee) and returned him to the stage. Here, he's minus Woolsey, and while all is well in pre- code cinema, the laughs are less, and the absence is quite noticeable.
Today, the plot is the stuff that sitcoms are made of, so the freshness is gone, but back during the early talkie days, it must have been a real riot for depression era audiences. Wheeler's building his love nest for sweet Ms. Lee out in the country, and the invasion of each of their best friends and members of their families turns their plans upside down. Interferences in their marriage and his business plans creates disharmony. Every archetype of the pain in the butt relative is present, but while some of them are quite obnoxious, it's in a very funny way, where as today, they would just be all wretched as opposed to endearing.
The stuttering Roscoe Ates is very finny as the flustered country taxi driver, complete with horse and buggy and going back and forth from the train station to pick up Lee's litter. Wheeler's sole relative, a hanger-on uncle, is no better. This shows life when it was simpler, but reminds us that family is something that makes you pray for your 18th birthday to move on from.
Today, the plot is the stuff that sitcoms are made of, so the freshness is gone, but back during the early talkie days, it must have been a real riot for depression era audiences. Wheeler's building his love nest for sweet Ms. Lee out in the country, and the invasion of each of their best friends and members of their families turns their plans upside down. Interferences in their marriage and his business plans creates disharmony. Every archetype of the pain in the butt relative is present, but while some of them are quite obnoxious, it's in a very funny way, where as today, they would just be all wretched as opposed to endearing.
The stuttering Roscoe Ates is very finny as the flustered country taxi driver, complete with horse and buggy and going back and forth from the train station to pick up Lee's litter. Wheeler's sole relative, a hanger-on uncle, is no better. This shows life when it was simpler, but reminds us that family is something that makes you pray for your 18th birthday to move on from.