Review of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) by Ilsa L — 27 Jul 2013

An advertising executive moves his New York family to Connecticut and involves them in a real estate swindle.

Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Melvyn Douglas are all great actors, but even they can't save this film from banal mediocrity. The central conflict is Jim Blandings's pursuit of an American Dream on steroids and a entitled sense of opulence, but this conflict isn't really resolved because Blandings never tones down his ambitions or does anything to earn his privileged opinion of himself. The plotline about Muriel's potential affair with Bill doesn't have any legs either because, like Jim should, we trust her implicitly. Some of the supporting characters are -- "Yep" -- mildly amusing, but even a chuckle didn't escape me.

Overall, just like its more modern imitator, The Money Pit, this film is pointlessly unfunny.