Review of Houseboat (1958) by Vicky D — 18 Nov 2007

I am a HUGE Cary Grant fan (having seen about 75% of his films) - and there are but a handful that are, shall we say, less than great. This, unfortunately, was one of them. I've never been a huge fan of Sophia Loren, and I'm not a fan of this cheesy, rushed story.

.. I, personally, think Grant should have stuck with movies like Notorious (my personal favorite), and Philadelphia Story. But, then again, I've never been a big fan of Grants later work (save Father Goose) -- when he chose campy comedy over good cinema (see: Touch of Mink).

I still will watch him, but feel these movies represent an era of Hollywood that Grant wasn't really a part of (or should have been) and I find myself thinking, I'm glad you retired. This movie was cute-ish, and I did laugh at parts -- but I found Loren overbearing and annoying (people don't just sing like that, and that song is annoying anyway), one minute there was nothing, the next a relationship.

Why wouldn't they have gone elsewhere? Or held that man liable for the house? Why wouldn't the aunt have had them come back? It just didn't make sense to me, and while I watched the entire thing, it was rather forgettable.

I'll stick with better Grant films, thanks.