Ma femme est sans critique

Mention the name Lucille Ball, and what comes to mind for most of us is the zany character in the long-running 1950s TV comedy show, "I Love Lucy." But, I wonder if Lucy started out with a wish to be a comedienne, or if she had her eyes on any other fields of stage or screen. Comedy was part of her early roles, but she also had roles in which she sang and danced ("Dance, Girl, Dance" of 1940). And there can be no doubt about her acting ability from such dramatic and suspense films as "Valley of the Sun" and "The Big Street" in 1942; or "The Dark Corner" in 1946; or "Lured" in 1947.

On the other hand, there's little doubt about Bob Hope's aspirations. From his earliest days in vaudeville, Hope was a comedian, and he would always be a comedian. For all his kidding aside about earning as Oscar, Bob knew that he had little chance because Oscar very rarely went to a comedian. He even made his overt desire for an Oscar a part of his long- running comedy routines, and it was sure to get a laugh decade after decade

That doesn't mean that Bob Hope didn't do some very funny movies. But his type of humor wasn't the subtle, clever or zany type that usually involved great or very good acting. Clark Gable, James Stewart, Carole Lombard and Claudette Colbert were some of the very accomplished dramatic actors who could do Oscar-winning caliber comedy in movies. Bob's comedy forte was the one-liner. Or, make that, a string of one- liners, one after the other. And in that, he often aroused some great laughter.

So, that brings us to this movie, "Critic's Choice." This film is meant to be a semi-serious movie about Broadway and a critic's life, with a comedic outlook. And Lucy plays a serious character, a "straight man" to Bob's wisecracks and one-liners. I think it was intended as a light comedy to begin with, sans any zaniness on Lucy's part. The very funny parts are in the last half with Bob. He has some zany scenes himself, and a few strings of one-liners that bring out loud laughter. Some examples are: "This is the drunkenest room I've ever been in." "This apartment's all uphill." And, "I'd just like to be there when we get where I'm going."

"Critic's Choice" is a nice film for an evening of light entertainment, and worth watching just to see two of the great comics of all time together.

New York theater critic Parker Ballantine (Bob Hope) is married to wannabe playwright Angela (Lucille Ball). They live with his son John from his previous marriage to flighty actress Ivy London (Marilyn Maxwell). Angie is writing a play about her family and he's rather dismissive. According to him, she doesn't finish anything. She actually finishes and Dion Kapakos (Rip Torn) is directing it.

It's interesting that his second wife is more age appropriate than the first wife. I would expect it to be the opposite. A switch would make them fit the stereotypes, but it would also deprive the movie of the Hope Ball pairing. I'll take the pairing over the stereotyping. Their stardoms have faded from their pinnacles, but they still have plenty of star power. As a comedy, this is lacking especially considering the two legends involved. It's more a drama than a comedy. At least, it's better as a drama than a comedy. Bob Hope does his comedic mugging and it's not that funny. There is potential with the marital conflict. It works, but I would like more from Ball. This is very much his movie instead of their movie. This was sold as a comedy. It tries to be a comedy. They should have concentrated more on the drama.

Bland comedy/drama about nasty theater critic Bob Hope, who's only happy when he's trashing the latest Broadway sensation, has to contend with his wife, Lucille Ball, deciding she wants to become a playwright. Will Bob write a nasty review of his wife's play? Will Bob write a gushing review? I'm not sure there's any real suspense what actually happens, but the only reason to watch this film is for Hope and Ball, who are good, but the jokes are sadly not all that funny. It also doesn't help that the film lacks the rapid pace of Hope's better comedies. Overall, "Critic's Choice" features two brilliant comedians in a less than brilliant comedy. FUN FACT: This film was based on a play by Ira Levin, who's best known as the author of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Stepford Wives."

If you want to see Lucy at her least funny, watch this. She looks like she has a lot of personal strain, or something. Lucy never clicked in the movies for some reason, but on TV she soared. Bob Hope also struggles with the lame screenplay. You'll recognize many of the faces here, like Jim Backus and Rip Torn, among others. Apparently the play that this is based on got good reviews, but this movie version is so bad I'm surprised they didn't stop production and revamp it. On an up note, the movie is an indispensable time capsule. With JFK's assassination and the Beatles, this early 60's world would soon change forever. It's also worth seeing for the tiny Soupy Sales cameo.

Ira Levin's play Critic's Choice which ran 189 performances on Broadway in the 1960-1961 season was expanded exponentially for the screen version. It's Broadway origins are hardly noticeable.

Stepping into the roles played on stage by Henry Fonda and Georgeann Johnson are Bob Hope and Lucille Ball in their fourth and last film together. The more traditional Hope and traditional Lucy are to be found in their earlier films Sorrowful Jones and Fancy Pants. Still Critic's Choice works a whole lot better for them than The Facts of Life.

Bob Hope is a theater critic and he's got a son by his first marriage to Marilyn Maxwell, Ricky Kelman. He's married now to Lucille Ball and Lucy's taken it in her head to write a play about her family life growing up with two sisters, Marie Windsor and Joan Shawlee, and her mother Jessie Royce-Landis. Hope fluffs the idea off, but this only makes Lucy more determined especially when she's working with director Rip Torn and producer John Dehner.

There are a ton of characters not in the original play which took place in the Hope/Ball apartment. The addition of a lot of these people allowed Hope and Lucy to engage in some of their traditional comedy which they didn't do in The Facts of Life and paid dearly for it.

This has to be the only film I know where the 'other' woman is the first wife. Marilyn Maxwell who it was reputed Hope was involved with around 1950 and who appeared in The Lemon Drop Kid with him, sees her chance back with him as Rip Torn starts to get interested in Lucy.

Bob and Lucy get good support from a well chosen cast of familiar faces and Critic's Choice should please their fans.