Delayed Reaction: The Philadelphia Story

Premise: On the weekend of her wedding, a socialite has to navigate the complications from her ex-husband showing up with some tabloid journalists.

So, this movie is great. That's all I really have to say. I didn't know much about it going in. I just had it on a list of classic movies to see. If I thought about it, I'd remember that it was a Katherine Hepburn movie. That's about it though. And it turns out this movie is a god-damn delight.

Sometimes, I like the screwball romantic comedies of this era better in theory than in practice. Like, as much as I marvel of the quick wit of His Girl Friday, I didn't really fall for it. Perhaps it was burdened by expectations since it's such a famously wordy movie. The Philadelphia Story just has a little bit of everything. The characters all talk fast. They all are up to something. The love triage turns into more of a love pentagon. It's silly and unpretentious. And it's got heavy hitters like Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart bouncing off each other. That would be like Meryl Streep, George Clooney, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman making a prestige RomCom together today*. I had no idea that Jimmy Stewart won his only Oscar for this. It's such a weird win, but I won't fight it.

*RIP PSH.

Do I think that any of the couples belong together by the end? No, of course not. Do I care? Not really. I just need it to all make sense until the end of the movie. I don't even care if it all falls apart 10 minutes later.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend