Die Verwandten meiner Frau

Not one of Keaton's better efforts, but there are a few laughs to be found in this wry tale of a man who finds himself accidentally married to a battle-axe (Kate Price) with four hulking brothers, none of whom take kindly to his presence in their home.

"Papa! Shut your eyes and see what I married!"

Buster finds himself accidentally married to a shrewish woman with a lowbrow family in this one. The highlights for me were in smaller moments, like Buster striking various poses during the family photograph, or gently putting a brick under a guy's head after he's knocked him unconscious with it. The big chase through the mansion while the homebrew suds overflow was anticlimactic, though it included the clever gag of rolling himself up into a carpet and hurtling down the stairs to send his pursuers flying, and it was neat to see him descending from the third floor of a building like a circus acrobat using the window awnings. Overall, however, there just wasn't a lot of charm here, and it seemed less inspired to me. It's still Buster Keaton though, and he had my full attention. Even when he's just average, he's engaging.

While routine in parts, this short comedy has some good moments. The story has Buster trying to deal with a crew of nightmarish in-laws, and the general understanding is that the material hit pretty close to home for him when he made this. When film-makers put too much of their own lives into their movies, it doesn't always lead to the best on-screen product, and some of the material here seems more labored than usual. The setup is quite creative, but some of the punch lines don't really come off. Still, it has some funny moments, and most Keaton fans will want to take a look.

The sudden and mistaken marriage of Keaton to an unlikely bride is the incident that forms the basis for the plot. Confronted by animalistic in-laws, who would be any groom's nightmare, Keaton maneuvers through their opportunism and materialism. Somehow the pieces don't quite fit together. There are episodes that are almost very funny, but not quite. Perhaps grounded too deeply to contemporary reality, I'm never able to accept the premise that Keaton would acquiesce to this marriage without any form of challenge. Perhaps that direction in plot would have produced a greater opportunity for Keaton's brand of comedy to shine.

Really love Buster Keaton, he was incredibly funny, very daring and was also one of the few in film history to make deadpan work. Love many of his feature films, with 'The General' especially being a masterwork, and most of his independent short films too ('The Scarecrow' and 'One Week' being my favourites). Not all of them though, as a few did suffer from not being particularly inspired or disjointed and cobbled together stories, such as 'Balloonatics' and 'The Frozen North'.

'My Wife's Relations' is not one of Keaton's best either, while putting it above those two only just. As far as his short films go, while above average and worth watching it is one of his lesser ones. A lot to like, but doesn't do enough with a great idea and Keaton did funnier and more imaginative work before and since. 'My Wife's Relations' is worth watching if wanting to see as much of Keaton's work and silent comedy in general, but it's not one of the essential.

There are plenty of good things. Keaton is without complaint, he has great comic timing, he shows off his fearlessness whenever he is able to and he is endearing (keep saying a lot about his near-unparallelled mastery of deadpan, but it is always impressive when something you don't usually care for is done well). His character is a likeable one in an on paper relatable predicament. Kate Price is very convincing as a formidable battleaxe of a character and Keaton regular Joe Roberts plays to his strengths very well.

It looks good with nicely framed photography throughout. There are amusing moments, especially in the second half where Keaton's bold physical comedy shines in the climax. The dinner scene has some very funny little touches and wedding nights don't often get more chaotic or hellish than the one in 'My Wife's Relations'

However, 'My Wife's Relations' did feel a bit inconsistent in the pace and laughs so it made it hard for me to fully connect with it. It does have slow spots before properly coming to life in the climactic moments and there could have been more laughs, or at least ones that felt more consistently natural than those here.

Also felt that the thin and at times contrived story brought things down as well as going well overboard on the unlikeability factor for most of the characters. While Keaton, Price and Roberts are good, the others seemed to be over-compensating.

Summing up, above average but not exceptional. 6/10