“If Anyone Asks Me to Go on Television Again, I Hope That You’ll Just….” “I Will. I’ll Beat ‘em Off with My Stethoscope.”
Since my inspiration for watching Doris Day movies is the Diane Vallere Madison Night series, I let the next book in the series dictate which Doris Day films I watch. When I sat down to watch it, I thought The Thrill of It All sounded promising. Sadly, it was disappointing.
The film finds Doris Day starring as Beverly Boyer, a housewife married to Dr. Gerald Boyer (James Garner). A chance remark at a dinner party one night lands Beverly a spot on an advertisement for Happy Soap. Despite an early disaster, when they offer her a weekly gig, the money sways her to take on the job. But is the resulting chaos worth it?
As I said, that sounds like a great premise, and I can easily see it being funny in the right hands. Considering the screen play is from TV sitcom legends Carl Reiner and Larry Gelbart, I was expecting great things.
Now, there were some pretty great lines, and I did laugh a few times.
However, much of the film was a mess.
I think part of the problem was that they tried to do too much in the movie. There are several situations that come up that are mainly set up for a few jokes before we move on to the next plot point. And we are so busy rushing from one plot point to another that we don’t have time for the characters to truly deal with anything that is going on.
And that’s the biggest issue for me. Gerald is clearly unhappy by what is going on. Leaving aside his dated attitudes (this was 1963, so we’ll let it reflect the time period in which it was made, although the attitude does grate when viewed today), he goes from loving to angry in about two seconds. Now, I get that some of what happens to him would make anyone angry. But even so, his reaction is still over the top.
I’m still scratching my head about his actions in the third act. That is not the sign of a healthy relationship or person, and his actions make me wonder exactly what kind of husband he was before the movie started.
Not to mention the climax leaves much of the underlying conflict unresolved. It seems to me like they could have found a way to work things out that was a compromise. Or better set up the ending we got instead of just dumping it on us in a rush to end the film.
Then there’s the scene that, while great for laughs, makes absolutely no logical sense. I was sitting there wondering where the writers’ heads were when they came up with it.
I can’t leave out the opening scene, which makes you wonder how it ties into anything else until after the opening credits.
Having said all of this, I can’t fault the actors. All of them were great, and the chemistry between Doris Day and James Garner is fantastic. (Does she have bad chemistry with anyone? Not that I’ve seen so far.) I wanted them to work out their problems. I just wanted his character to get some common sense first and a better resolution overall.
A few great lines and great performances aren’t enough to save The Thrill of It All. Unless you are a die hard Doris Day fan, this is one to skip.
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