Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

jdsuggs This is a depressing exercise of that mid-sixties genre in which the Greatest Generation skewers the Swinging Sixties and its own middle age at the same time. You've seen it plenty: Mom or Pop makes the scene, does the Frug, and flirts with infidelity, embarrassing the teenage daughter, while humoring her pretentious boyfriend as he spews pseudo-modern, pseudo-intellectual psychobabble. The marriage is in some kind of mid-life jeopardy and we get lots of racy dallying with modern morality before- (surely this is not a genre-wide spoiler!)- reaffirming traditional values in a final clinch. Actually, some of these are kind of fun, and they're nearly always fun to look at and listen to.Not this one.The comic situation here takes way too long to develop, spends a great deal of that time telling you exactly what's going to happen before it happens, and isn't even a little bit funny or believable. Whatever comic opportunities are there just aren't delivered upon, and the pacing is excruciating. The characters are such loose sketches that we aren't tempted to buy them either. Perhaps worst of all, the comic talents of a great cast are wasted, and not just the principles- while Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and a very game Deborah Kerr are striking out, great talent like Reta Shaw, Kathleen Freeman, John McGiver, and Parley Baer are left to ride the bench in a film that's thirty minutes too long.The Scottish mother-in-law and Cesar Romero's shyster, both broadly stereotyped, bring the only really lively support, and it's mostly just bellowing and posturing.The only redemption here, if any, is Dean Martin's bachelor pad, a wonderful set on which nothing really happens. And the color is pretty nice and lively for the most part, as per the period. And brunette Nancy Sinatra gives it her best and is always fun to watch. She has great chemistry with her dad and Dean.To cleanse your soul of this, pull out Preston Sturges' immortal "The Palm Beach Story" and see how a marriage comedy should move and breathe.

MartinHafer In recent months, I've watched quite a few films by the so-called Rat Pack. Some, such as "Oceans Eleven", were very good. However, quite a few really look like the actors were just going through the motions with substandard scripts--and "Marriage on the Rocks" is clearly one of these.The film is supposed to be a kooky comedy about marriage and divorce. However, comedies, unless I'm mistaken, are supposed to be funny! This one lacks humor and more importantly any charm. The characters are all unlikable and very one-dimensional. Dean Martin plays an executive who NEVER works and chases women. Frank Sinatra plays an executive who ONLY works and is humorless and annoying. And, Deborah Kerr hates his wife who hates her marriage but NEVER tells her husband. As for the kids, they're all self-absorbed jerks. As for the plot, it's bad but is made worse because you hate the characters. While in Mexico, Frank and Deborah ACCIDENTALLY GET DIVORCED and SHE ACCIDENTALLY MARRIES Dean!! This is pretty far-fetched and contrived. Overall, it's a tiresome film that might have worked had it been better written and had the stars (who had HUGE clout in Hollywood at the time) insisted they be given a competent plot. Tiresome.

writers_reign Though you'll go a long way to find a bigger Sinatra fan than me I'm not the besotted type who thinks the idol in question can do no wrong and I'm well aware of his substandard work as both singer and actor or, to put it another way, Mama Will Bark was not the only dog with which he was associated. It's hard to imagine exactly who and at what obviously early stage ever thought there was a scintilla of merit in this turkey which relies on the audience 'getting' the joke that Sinatra, a celebrated swinger in real life, is here cast as a boring husband so much so that wife Deborah Kerr seriously attempts to use boredom as grounds for divorce. Nepotism is certainly alive and well with roles for daughter Nancy and real-life (at the time) son-in-law Tommy Sands. Best buddy Dean Martin plays himself and flavor of the month Tony Bill - Sinatra cast him in Come Blow Your Horn and None But The Brave - also turns up cast against type. There's minimal chemistry between Kerr and Sinatra, Cesar Romero does his best as the stereotype foreign jack-of-all-trades and to add insult to injury Sinatra allows Trini Lopez to stink up the screen when he himself could have supplied a real vocal interlude. For completists only.

bkoganbing The only reason this film gets as high as four is for all the talent involved. If Frank and Dean had sung in this film it might have rated higher. But the plain fact is that Marriage on the Rocks just ain't that funny.Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin are best friends and partners in an advertising agency. Sinatra is married to Deborah Kerr with two kids and a mother-in-law in the house. Dino is a carefree bachelor and all around swinger and boozer. Basically these two really play themselves so there's no great stretch of any thespian talent.Through an odd combination of circumstances, Sinatra and Kerr whose marriage is going through a rough patch go to Mexico on a second honeymoon and through the machinations of divorce attorney Cesar Romero they get an instant Mexican divorce. Then when Sinatra can't make it back to Mexico, he sends Dino back to pick up Kerr and offer an explanation and Martin winds up married to Kerr. Now their roles are reversed and Martin is now a stepfather to Nancy Sinatra and Michael Petit and Sinatra's having a whale of a good time leading a swinging, ring-a-ding life. Of course all gets righted in the end.We've seen it all before from Frank and Dean. This would be their last joint film appearance for 17 years until Cannonball Run II. Mainly because of the critical roasting this film got. Both of them just walk through the parts here. Dean Martin was just starting his highly successful television series which would be his main venue for the next decade and Frank was doing some very nice television specials around that time. It would have been nice if both of them had sang some more on the big screen, but no more movie singing for them, except for Dino in the first Matt Helm film.In any event the Rat Pack was breaking up as the two of them plus Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Joey Bishop all started doing their own thing more and more.Deborah Kerr looks like she's wondering how she got there with the boys, she certainly doesn't have the right spirit to be a Rat Pack broad like Shirley MacLaine or Angie Dickinson or Barbara Rush.In fact Marriage on the Rocks is one colossal waste of an incredible assembly of talented players.