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Author Topic: The Awful Truth / Bringing Up Baby  (Read 3722 times)

mysteryman

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The Awful Truth / Bringing Up Baby
« on: July 31, 2006, 12:05:18 PM »
Loved "The Awful Truth" - terrific acting by Irene Dunn and Cary Grant, great chemistry, etc. Hated "Bringing Up Baby" - way too over the top, could care less about what happened to the characters, a leopard walking the city streets unleashed -- really?, poor acting performance by Cary Grant.

nougatmachine

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The Awful Truth / Bringing Up Baby
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2006, 02:22:11 PM »
Really? I thought Bringing Up Baby was almost perfect. I liked The Awful Truth too, just not as much. Bringing Up Baby managed to be completely anarchic without doing what a lot of old comedies do when they try to be crazy, which is just irritate me. I think in anyone else's hands, Katherine Hepburn's character would have annoyed me, in the same way that Carole Lombard annoyed me in My Man Godfrey. But Hepburn is able to sell it in a way that doesn't feel forced and is quite infectious. And I loved Carey Grant in this. I thought it was so much fun to see him playing against type.

Now, I said it's almost perfect. The one big flaw in this movie, I think, is the jail sequence at the end. It just drags on forever after the joke's gotten old and never ends. It's the one scene where the movie falls victim to the trap of movies like My Man Godfrey where the "zany" quotient is pushed artificially far and just becomes tiresome. But other than that, I loved it.

mysteryman

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The Awful Truth / Bringing Up Baby
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2006, 08:52:58 AM »
You thought My Man Godfrey was zanier than Bringing Up Baby? Carole Lombard didn't annoy me, neither did Katherine Hepburn (at least not too much), Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby did. Though admittedly, I couldn't appreciate his playing against type being as I'd never seen one of his movies before...

winrit

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The Awful Truth / Bringing Up Baby
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2006, 02:10:34 PM »
I had to fast-forward to the end of "Bringing up Baby."  The plot seemed ridiculous.  I thought maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance so I decided if Adam or Sam like it maybe I'll watch it again.  Fortunately they didn't, so I'm off the hook.  The only film I have liked so far and would watch again is the Thin Man.  I might even get one of the other Thin Man movies.  Did someone mention a Jimmy Stewart Thin Man?  What is that called?

I can see though that there are vastly differing opinions out there regarding this marathon.
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sdedalus

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The Awful Truth / Bringing Up Baby
« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2006, 04:30:12 PM »
The first Thin Man sequel, After The Thin Man, co-stars Jimmy Stewart.  It's not all that great, but Stewart's terrific in the final scene.

I don't understand the negative reactions to Bringing Up Baby from Adam and Sam and some people around here.  It's like you all are from a different planet or something.
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Wowser

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The Awful Truth / Bringing Up Baby
« Reply #5 on: August 10, 2006, 06:13:30 PM »
The Bringing Up Baby review was hilarious, though!

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Boopie

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The Awful Truth / Bringing Up Baby
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2006, 01:21:55 PM »
I think Bringing Up Baby is one of those films that really polarizes its audience: either you'll love it and declare it a screwball masterpiece or you'll loathe it (i.e. call it such egregious words like "annoying' and "agonizing"). I fall into the former camp.

I recently watched Bringing Up Baby for the first time (about a week after Adam and Sam reviewed it) and I really think it's one of those films you must be prepared for in order to enjoy. You absolutely must submit yourself to the absurdist quality and anything-can-and-will happen scenarios presented in the film. Or else it will, yes, be just an agonizing experience.

But much like Sam mentioned about people's like or dislike for Will Ferrell, sometimes with comedy either you get it or you don't, and that's fair. Obviously Filmspotting didn't get it, but I completely did. But not immediately. I started watching this movie thinking this would be a fun old-old school Grant/Hepburn romantic comedy (the kind of movies I, as a female, simply love...can't help it), but I actually had to stop the film about an hour in and tell myself 'Okay, this is either the stupidest film ever made or it's a masterpiece.' I decided to sleep on it. A couple of weeks later, my anticipation was building up until I finally found time to watch it from beginning to end and I have to say... I enjoyed every single second of it. Adam mentioned in his review that watching Bringing Up Baby was kind of like having a marching band blarring at your face. Well, I was singing right along with them.

But really -- Adam and Sam's review of Bringing Up Baby was one of my absolute favourite reviews of Filmspotting/Cinecast. Really great and hilarious. :) Unfortunately, I haven't seen The Awful Truth so I really can't say much about it.

 

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