THAT FUNNY FEELING

(director: Richard Thorpe; screenwriters: David R. Schwartz/from a story by Norman Barasch & Carroll Moore; cinematographer: Clifford Stine; editor: Gene Milford; music: Bobby Darin; cast: Sandra Dee (Joan), Bobby Darin (Tom Milford), Donald O’Connor (Harvey Granson), Nita Talbot (Audrey), Larry Storch (Luther), Leo G. Carroll (O’Shea), James Westerfield (Officer Brokaw), Robert Strauss (Bartender), Ben Lessy (Bartender, Charlie); Runtime: 93; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Harry Keller; Universal; 1965)

“It only gave me the funny feeling I was watching a mediocre TV sitcom.“

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A frothy and familiar ’60s rom/com, helmed by the numbers by prolific filmmaker Richard Thorpe (“Night Must Fall”/”The Crowd Roars”). It’s based on a story of mistaken identities and the leads crossing paths without knowing how they are connected. The story by Norman Barasch & Carroll Moore and the screenplay play by David R. Schwartz are modest at best. Though the leads are pleasant and the story is harmless, it only gave me the funny feeling I was watching a mediocre TV sitcom. Joan Howell (Sandra Dee) is an aspiring actress, who survives by working as a maid. She shares a small Manhattan walkup apartment with Audrey (Nina Talbot). Tom Milford (Bobby Darin) is a swinging bachelor and wealthy publisher, who keeps bumping into Joan on the street. Tom doesn’t realize Joan is the maid of his luxurious Upper East Side apartment. and when they meet and have a drink together she pretends his apartment is hers because she’s ashamed of her place. Going along with the deception because he fell in love with her, Tom moves into the apartment of his boss Harvey (Donald O’Connor) while the maid thinks he’s in California on a business trip and lives in his place. This silly setup never eases up until the innocent Dee character and the love-struck Darin character, a real-life married couple at the time since 1960, bring the nonsense to an end by Darin going along with her charade until Dee caught on and pranks him with a party in his pad attended by all his swinging partners dressed as prostitutes. That will lead, for some reason beyond my sitcom IQ level, to Darin proposing to her.

REVIEWED ON 9/4/2017 GRADE: C    https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/