Me and My Gal

Almost felt like a "stew" type of film: throw everything in until it comes out good. There's some action and a decent heist scene, there's a romance which isn't bad, and there's a wide variety of humor. Most of the political jokes haven't aged well, and the drunk fisherman scenes are way too long and make you wonder what the movie was intending. The whirlwind screwball romance is funny enough when you give it a chance, but I'll admit I was close to giving up on it.

We movie nerds are supposed to like everything directed by Raoul Walsh. This is basically 90 minutes of nonsense: some sort of a love story, combined with some other stuff about gangsters, and a lot of jokes that aren't particularly funny. Well-paced, but there's just not much here

It doesn't get boring despite going nowhere. The snappy dialogue and jokes are altogether better than mediocre, but the added inventiveness of visual humour and unusual touches improve the watching experience.

Viewed May 10, 2021.

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

Tons of dry jokes coming at a rapid pace. Didn't matter if it was during a romantic scene or in a action scene. Spencer Tracy just had to keep telling 'em. The drunk-jokes was more sad then comic. Maybe a bit too human in it's slapstick. And that kind of made the pace of the movie a bit weird. Didn't stop it from being fun to watch, but it stopped it from becoming anything exciting. While it was a clear Spencer Tracy showcase directed by Raoul Walsh, the other cast members helped a lot too.

While the Hangover movies invite audiences to admire drunkards, Me and My Gal reminds moviegoers that their basic traits -- laboring, loving, family and survival (including the unfairness of underclass criminal desperation) -- are essentially human.