Movie Review: The Glass Bottom Boat

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Some laughs and fun

Cons: Too silly at times; ending glosses over too much

The Bottom Line:

Lots happens in film

But resolution is weak

Too silly for me

NASA, Romance, Spies…and a Mermaid

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I sat down to watch The Glass Bottom Boat.  I just knew it was the next Doris Day movie to watch to be ready for the next Madison Night mystery (coming later this month).  I was expecting romance and comedy, but I wasn’t expecting the spy plot.

In this movie, Doris Day plays Jennifer Nelson, a widow who has just gotten a day job working in the PR department at NASA’s facility in Southern California.  When she catches the attention of the head of the entire plant, Bruce Templeton (Rod Taylor), he goes out of his way to start a relationship with her.  Everything seems to be going well, but there’s just one problem.  A Russian spy is trying to uncover the secret of Bruce’s latest invention.  This is 1966, after all, and the space race hasn’t quite reached its conclusion.  The evidence seems to be pointing to Jennifer as the spy.  What will happen next?

Are you wondering about the glass bottom boat of the title?  Jennifer’s father runs a glass bottom boat business on the nearby island of Catalina, and Jennifer spends time on the weekends playing mermaid for her father’s tours.  That actually comes into play in the opening scene, but doesn’t really show up again.  It makes me wonder why they named the movie after that.  Or why it was even included.

Well, that does give us a great meet cute for Jennifer and Bruce.  This movie shows that the tropes in romantic comedies are nothing new.  Which isn’t an issue when they are well done and you are having fun.  For much of this movie, I was.  I like the two characters, and I got invested in their relationship.  While it was obvious where the misunderstandings were coming from as far as Jennifer being a spy, I was enjoying seeing that plot play out as well.

What took me by surprise was the slapstick comedy of the piece.  I think what surprised me most was that I didn’t warm to it like I thought I would.  I’m wondering if my tastes have changed, if those antics are best enjoyed with a group of others, or if it just didn’t fit this movie.  The film certainly didn’t need it most of the time.  I will say the one place I felt it was fun was in the climax when Jennifer finds herself in trouble.

This movie has one of my least favorite endings for a romantic comedy – the non-ending ending.  What do I mean by that?  At the beginning of act three, the truth of what has been going on has come to light, and Jennifer is rightly upset.  We then get caught up in the Russian spy part of the story, which eats up too much of the rest of the run time of the film.  Granted, I was having lots of fun with this, and I was rooting Jennifer on as she confused everyone about what was going on.  It was great fun to watch.  But in the midst of all of this confusion, the relationship revelations just got glossed over.  And there were some serious issues that needed to be addressed.  Or, since this is a movie, at least apologized for.  I would have been okay with a 30 second scene to resolve this, and we didn’t even get that.  (And I agree that we should have gotten much more in real life.)  That left me feeling unsatisfied even though I’d been rooting for Jennifer and Bruce for the entire movie.

None of this goes against the cast, who are clearly have a great deal of fun as they bring the story to life.  Yes, some of the effects and stunts are dated, but this is a 1960’s romantic comedy.  Just accept that, and you’ll be fine.

I can see an audience for The Glass Bottom Boat – those looking for a light, forgettable romantic comedy.  But for me, it was a little too silly to really work with a disappointing ending.