Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 24-April-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

If I learned that Robert Frost once wrote a really kick-ass limerick, I might feel the same way I did while watching "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." This is Alfred Hitchcock's only true comedy, and it sparkles as much with charm as his thrillers hypnotize with cleverness. Like most of the great director's work, it clicks because all the pieces are in place: a solid script, an enthusiastic cast, and the obvious oversight of a man who understands his craft. Altogether, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" is nothing more (or less) than a frothy good time, which makes it a must for any fan of the Master of Suspense.

The screenplay by Norman Krasna is solid, yet it borrows quite a bit from the 1937 Cary Grant/Irene Dunne picture "The Awful Truth." Here, as there, the story revolves around a couple whose marriage is sort of over. Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery star as Ann and David Smith, two attractive New Yorkers who are very much in love after three years together despite occasional bumps along the way. Trying to maintain a policy of absolute honesty, David admits that he might choose to be a bachelor if he had the chance to go back and do it all over again. This confession comes back to bite him when he finds out that he and Ann aren't legally married (due to a snafu involving county lines), and he doesn't immediately propose to her. Although he never actually considers letting her go, he's unable to convince her of this, and before he knows it they're engaged in escalating incidents of spying, lying, vase-throwing, jealousy, and other types of matrimonial merriment.

Lombard is at the top of her game, but the mister is the master of the Smith household. Montgomery is pure delight, blending the pinstriped sex appeal of many old-time leading men with natural silliness and acute comic timing. (His David reminds me a lot of Bruce Willis in "Moonlighting," which is a very good thing.) He earns big laughs (e.g., when he tries to irk Ann by pretending to whisper in the ear of a gorgeous blonde seated next to him) and consistently straddles the line between the wounded lover and the cocky guy who always gets what he wants. Certainly the filmmakers didn't need to make his rival (Gene Raymond) into such a square (a common fault of romantic films) — a smart, vibrant woman like Ann wouldn't let a catch like David get away.

Which is, of course, the point of movies like "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." If the setup and actors are right, the audience trusts implicitly in the couple's meant-for-each-otherness and can sit back and snicker at the crazy things people do for love. (I'll wager Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie don't capture this in their upcoming flick of the same name.) Marriage, I suppose, is serious business, but a crack comedy like this makes it look like a whole lotta fun.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.