Review of Life with Father (1947) by Timothy J — 07 Jul 2013

I'm not sure if I like this one as much as My Man Godfrey, but it's still a great movie. The acting is pretty good all around. William Powell is hysterically funny and brings his character to life in amazing ways. Irene Dunne is also marvelous as Powell's overemotional yet very sly wife. While I did find the religious fixation on baptism to be more than just a little preachy at times, it's still handled in a funny way, and I guess you can blame it on being a byproduct of its time . (By the way, I don't know why, but the way that the actors say "bap-TIZED" instead of just "baptized" made me laugh.).

Overall, it's a great little story about life with pompous but well-intentioned father with odd quirks. There's no villain, no twists, no contrivences, and none of those things are needed. Sometimes just a story with interesting characters is all you really need. If you haven't seen this one already, I'd definitely recommend it.