The Lady Eve

1941 romantic comedy

Rating: 16/20 (Jen: 12/20)

Plot: Rich and naive Charles has just finished studying snakes in the Amazon. He meets Jean, a con-artist, on a boat and falls for her. She plays with his hair for an hour and fifteen minutes and purrs a lot. After a misunderstanding involving Charles being conned, they go their separate ways. Later, Jean comes up with a plan to annoy poor Charles again.

No surprise that this romantic comedy has crisp and snappy dialogue and more than a handful of wacky moments as that's what Sturges does. Stanwyck is great in (sort of) dual roles; she oozes a sexiness and almost everything she says is tantalizing, requiring me to watch most of this movie sans pants. I didn't care for Fonda as much. His character is too dopey, too much the schmuck, but the supporting cast is really good. The plot, at least in the second half of the movie, is also a little clunky. Still, it's a lot of fun watching this romance unfold and then struggle to survive.