You for Me

Glib, engaging romantic comedy with a sitcom-like feel, but a GOOD sitcom, with well-rehearsed actors delivering consistently witty dialogue with impeccable timing and skill. The film has a loose, likeable quality that seems to flow naturally from Jane Greer's down-to-earth, girl-next-door (but not the bland, idealized girl-next door) acting style. Her nurse is nobody's fool but also nobody's girl and therein lies the conflict.

Peter Lawford and Gig Young, typically second leads, are also in good form. Here, the two of them together add up to one more than adequate leading man. It truly is a contest and a mystery which one Greer will choose. They complement each other well; neither is all hero or heel.

What's most remarkable about the picture and most indicative of its quality is how minor characters keep surprising you. Young's Aunt Clara, who in other films would be a daffy but lovable eccentric overflowing with relationship wisdom and sage advice, is here a not completely innocuous free-thinker with radical beliefs. In a scene where Young introduces her to Greer, the two don't bond instantly as one expects; instead Greer squirms at the old woman's peculiar ideas about the medical profession and even challenges them (to little avail). Tommy Farrell's goofy, unthreatening intern, Dr. Rollie Gibb, in what would ordinarily be the thankless THIRD lead, gets kicked in the shin a few times for laughs early on, but emerges by film's end, refreshingly, as not only more of a man than Greer had ever imagined but also a bit of a hero. Scenes like this show that the filmmaker isn't on auto-pilot and is truly interested in fleshing out this fictional world and populating it with people, not types.

I don't do many reviews these days but when I saw how this was being so unjustly maligned I had to mount a defense. You for Me may be a small forgotten film, but most fair-minded viewers who stumble across it will be surprised at how good it really is. 50 years later it holds up remarkably well.

"You for Me" is a second feature starring the beautiful Jane Greer, Peter Lawford, and Gig Young. Elaine Stewart appears at the end of the film looking va-va-va-voom gorgeous.

Lawford is a wealthy man, Tony Brown, a potential donor to the hospital, who comes to the hospital with a rather embarrassing injury. Nurse Katie McDermad, who was on her way out shopping when this emergency came in, isn't too sympathetic. She doesn't realize who he is, and her sarcasm isn't appreciated. She's fired.

Dr. Chadwick (Young) advises Katie that the money Brown intended to donate before she was so nasty is needed for his research project, so she goes to his room to apologize to him. She soon finds herself in the middle of a triangle, with both men attracted to her. Meanwhile, she has to deal with her middle class family at home.

Very slight comedy, but I'm a big fan of Jane Greer's. She's lovely and Lawford is charming and exceptionally handsome. Gig Young is affable. They just didn't have too much to work with.

You can skip this one, but if you're a fan of Jane Greer's, see it. She's in little enough.

Friendly, completely inconsequential second-biller from MGM has level-headed nurse Jane Greer assigned to get the annual hospital donation out of wealthy lothario Peter Lawford; after a rocky start, they warm towards each other, but it turns out doctor Gig Young likes Greer as well! Irrepressible comedy is fast and brief, which is a good thing because the plot is paper thin. There's an ornery nurse who gets laughs, and Young is amiable and sturdy, but Jane Greer is an odd one: she gets only a few funny lines and has to run around worried about everybody, but an innate sexiness does manage to shine through her stalwart appearance. ** from ****

Though a B film, shot in studio sets and the back lot, superior writing and performances from the leads provide a very pleasant time. The story, though pretty predictable, is flawlessly constructed, the dialog witty. Greer, Young, and Lawford give flawless light comedy performances with occasional dramatic moments.

It's a shame that Greer didn't have a more robust film acting career, because she's such a good actress, always natural and believable, and handles the verbal give and take perfectly.

The film has no film composing credits, but the sprited, sprightly music under the opening credits is "Confetti" by Bronislau Kaper, probably written for another movie, which had some life beyond the films, as did some of his other movie theme music.

"You for Me" is a very problematic film. While it's clearly a rom-com, it suffers from a fatal flaw....you just can't like anyone in the story!

The story begins with an irresponsible rich guy (Peter Lawford) getting shot in the butt in a hunting accident. Because Tony Brown (Peter Lawford) is so rich and important, the hospital drops everything to treat him--calling nurses and doctors in to perform an emergency operation....not that it was exactly life saving! One of the nurses, Katie (Jane Greer), is peeved that the patient is so spoiled and she tells him off...and soon she not only finds herself out of a job but the hospital out of an endowment from Tony. So, Katie spends much of the film kissing up to that playboy in order to get money from her for the hospital. And, it's not only her...everyone seems to have their hands out to Tony and even Katie's family exploits the guy. Dr. Chadwick (Gig Young) is not amused by all this and it's obvious he's smitten with Katie...as is Tony.

Dr. Chadwick is a grouch, Katie and her family are users, Tony is an irresponsible jerk and, well, pretty much everyone you see in the film is nasty--either wanting Tony's money or acting grouchy for little reason. After a while, it felt like a chore trying to stick with this one....and it's a shame as the film does have an excellent cast. The problem is the script.