Of all the shorts featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, this is my favorite. The riffs are clever and very funny and have me laughing every time.
That said, the short itself is not bad. The staging and direction are competent and the acting is better than one would expect from an educational short. Neither of the leads has the looks or charisma to be a movie star but both of them are good at line-reading and are quite believable as the young lovers. The filmmakers did not try to pass off 30-years-olds as teenagers. The other actors in the film are just as effective.
And although we can laugh at the way people looked, dressed, thought, and acted 70 years ago, we can also appreciate that "Cupid's Checklist," the various graphs, and even the "boing" help support the message that the short is trying to convey. Good advice is good advice no matter how it is presented and from whatever year it is given.
That said, the short itself is not bad. The staging and direction are competent and the acting is better than one would expect from an educational short. Neither of the leads has the looks or charisma to be a movie star but both of them are good at line-reading and are quite believable as the young lovers. The filmmakers did not try to pass off 30-years-olds as teenagers. The other actors in the film are just as effective.
And although we can laugh at the way people looked, dressed, thought, and acted 70 years ago, we can also appreciate that "Cupid's Checklist," the various graphs, and even the "boing" help support the message that the short is trying to convey. Good advice is good advice no matter how it is presented and from whatever year it is given.