The Palm Beach Story

1942 romantic comedy

Rating: 16/20 (Jen: 14/20)

Plot: Life after Tom and Gerry's marriage has not quite been happily ever after. They're struggling financially and about to lose their apartment. Luckily, a hard-of-hearing Wienie King, gives Gerry seven hundred bucks. When Tom comes home, he doesn't quite buy the story of the Wienie King, and it leads to an argument. Gerry decides to go to Palm Beach to get a divorce. Her husband races to stop her.

Possibly the most befuddling opening credits of all time. It's just a little more befuddling than the end of the movie. This has some great eccentric characters, my favorite being the Frenchman Toto, and lots of Sturgian oddball moments, moments that would never ever happen in real life but are definitely hilarious on the screen. Snappy dialogue and a ludicrous story make this a fast-paced, fun romantic comedy. Mary Astor pops in near the end of the movie as a bazillionaire's sister and nearly steals the show. The other performances are very good, too, though McCrea, playing a straight man of a husband, is hard to notice. There's an almost stream-of-conscious style to Sturges comedies, like trains dangerously close to falling off the tracks, that makes them deliriously entertaining. They're definitely addictive. And how can you not love a movie with a Wienie King in it?