Premise: A woman trying to get a divorce from her estranged husband gets her lawyer to set up the appearance that she's having an affair, but she goes on to actually fall for the lawyer's performer best friend.
OK. This is a screwball comedy, so it's best to just roll with the plot. The story doesn't make a ton of sense. It's built on repeated and avoidable misunderstandings. It's best to just go along with it and enjoy the pitter patter of the dialogue. This film has the added confusion of divorce being seen much differently then. I still don't understand how the appearance of Ginger Rogers having an affair is legally her best option for a divorce. Whatever. It's a fun movie with some enjoyable confusion.
I'm surprised to admit that this is my first Astaire and Rogers movie. You'd think that 4000 movies in, another one would've popped up. Alas, no, and I'm finally rectifying that. It was everything it was billed to be. Rogers and Astaire have great chemistry. They are electric in the song and dance numbers, both together and by themselves. I was happy to get lost in the "Continental" sequence toward the end of the film. I really get what people love about these old Hollywood musicals. Impressive staging. Large scale. Easy rhythm. I like newer song and dance movies too, but they're often much more aggressive. These are just lovely. I'm sure to track down more of these Astaire and Rogers movies.
It is quite hilarious to look into how hard this perfectly harmless movie had to work to get around the Hays Code. They couldn't call it the Gay Divorce, because they didn't want to suggest that divorces could be happy. Yet, they were OK with The Gay Divorcee because they determined that a divorcee could reasonably be in a situation where they experienced joy. As much as I'm annoyed by the MPAA and all their inconsistencies and double-standards, at least we don't have to put up with this bullshit.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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