Nonureva Really Surprised!

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

popcorninhell Designing Woman is seemingly one of the most retrograde pieces of apple pie and baseball Americana ever to come out of Hollywood. Told with earnest by Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall and director Vincente Minnelli of all people, the movie could be on the short list of Phyllis Schlafly's favorite films. Yet underneath it's sentimental 1950's quaintness, there's a tiny bit worth its nearly two-hour run time.Gregory Peck plays Mike Hagen, a working class, poker playing sports writer who meets the dainty and erudite Marilla who is taking a short vacation from the fashion designing world. They fall in love in the fanciful way movie couples often did in the those days. Then they get married; quickly and without much actual forethought. As the two head back to their homes in Manhattan they suddenly realize they have very little in common and must wrestle with old insecurities and jealousies as well as new high drama when Mike becomes a sought after man.This film thinks it's pulling a Rashomon (1950) but it really isn't The film piques the interest of the viewer with an interesting narrative trick. The film is told past-tense with a litany of narrators all coloring in their versions of the story. Most of the narration is filled in by Mike and Marilla who assure the viewer they haven't argued in months now and when they do they make it through. While this tact is an interesting little ploy, it doesn't really change anything. Sure a coy little aside here and there gives audiences the impression of humor but since the events and their relation to one another are not disputed by unreliable narrators, the whole exercise seems pointless.Peck encapsulates a role first written with Cary Grant in mind. It's easy to tell as Mike is a bit of a cad; goodnatured but still very much the kind of urban illiberal rascal that Grant was famous for. Perhaps it's the fallout of Peck's iconic roll in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) clouding my judgment, but here he just doesn't transcend. His Mike Hagen is broad, pedestrian and seemingly not made of whole cloth but rather an amalgam of earlier snippy leading men like Spencer Tracy's Adam Bonner or Clark Gable's Peter Warne. Lauren Bacall likewise has trouble fitting into her role as the refined Marilla. Part of Bacall's appeal is her earthy sensuousness which is, in a way the opposite of the fussiness required of a woman who is troubled by her beau walking around the apartment shoe-less. Granted, Bacall's early past as a fashion model could have served her well to overcome such superficiality. Unfortunately at the time, her husband Humphrey Bogart was succumbing to cancer of the esophagus.Despite two ill-cast leads, Designing Woman still manages to be marginal entertainment thanks to the supporting characters Maxie Stultz (Shaughnessy) and Randy (Cole). Shaughnessy's punchy sidekick is brimming with the theatrical idiosyncrasies that would give any character actor the urge to stand in front of a mirror and say "yeah I can do this!" Is Maxie a cartoonishly broad Guys and Dolls (1955) knockoff? Sure; but unlike the leads, we don't mind so much. the other real showstopper is famed Choreographer Jack Cole who despite less than ten lines, devises a fight sequence so corporeal, you'd swear Jackie Chan had seen it as a kid in Hong Kong and got ideas.Yet Jack Cole's splashy and spirited brawl is too-little-too-late for this studio-system dud. Designing Woman does little to mix-up the battle of the sexes premise that danced around the Hays Code during the screwball craze of the 1930's. In-fact, in comparison to those films, Designing Woman is rather tame, throwing its matrimonial agenda at the feet of a public that either didn't care or, in today's world are repulsed by its outmoded-ness. Ultimately, it's flat, featureless, dull and doesn't provide anything other than the reliable star power of two Hollywood icons slumming it.

jarrodmcdonald-1 Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall have been hired by MGM for this energetic romantic comedy. Director Vincente Minnelli's attention to detail gives the film a strong visual quality, and the fight in the alley is choreographed nicely and should be considered a comic masterpiece. However, I found the audio to be inferior. It seems as if many scenes had been redubbed, and it gave the film an unintentional-- or perhaps intentional?-- surreal quality. But the story is wonderful, and so are the performances (from the entire cast). It is about these people from different backgrounds, and the mishaps that occur when such worlds collide.

maryszd I have seen this beautifully made film many, many times and never get tired of it. I hope eventually all of Vincente Minelli's films come out on Blu-ray. They deserve to be seen in every bit of their gorgeous detail. Even this film's flaws make it richer. Gregory Peck's acting as sportswriter Mike Hagen is stiff and lackadaisical and Lauren Bacall also seems somehow preoccupied (possibly with her husband Humphrey Bogart's poor health). But their personal malaise as actors reinforces one of the central themes of the film, that is, the near impossibility of creating a truly compatible marriage. The sexually ambiguous character of Randy Owens (Jack Cole) also undermines (in a good way) the gender stereotyping that Mike Hagen and his buddies desperately cling to. Dancer Lori Shannon and producer Zachary Wilder are the only true adults in the film; it's their eventual pairing at the end of the film that gives it a sense of emotional completion.Designing Woman also presents a wonderful cinematic vision of New York; it evokes a time when the world of musical theater and Broadway played a central role in American popular culture.

JohnHowardReid An attractively sophisticated comedy of manners, Designing Woman brilliantly showcases its stars. It's great to find Lauren Bacall not only so lovingly photographed and costumed, but so agreeably and appealingly cast. Even Peck acquits himself with honors. The support players, led by enchanting Dolores Gray, are also perfect. It's a particular pleasure to see Jack Cole come across with such verve and panache in his tailor-made role.Despite his award, it's hard to believe the screenplay is the solo work of George Wells. His best scripts were either written in collaboration or based on material from another source. I wouldn't mind betting that Dore Schary had a hand in shaping the script. It abounds in cute ideas that seem far too clever and inventive for Mr Wells, such as the old but still amusing Ernst Lubitsch/Groucho Marx/Maurice Chevalier trick of directly addressing the audience from time to time. Once or twice, Wells even uses another vintage tried-and-true device by repeating a scene, but this time viewed through different eyes. Polished direction contributes to the film's success. Vincente Minnelli (Father of the Bride) was always right at home with mildly satirical material, although he seems unsure how best to utilize the width of the CinemaScope screen. There's often unused acres of space on either side of the main participants.Miss Gray has a song which struck me as no great shakes, but I found the music score otherwise very pleasant. The costumes, of course, rate as simply terrific.Mind you, even allowing for Mr Peck's inflated salary, it's hard to fathom where close on $2 million went to. True, the movie has its fair share of glossy production values, but $2 million worth?