Review of The Egg and I (1947) by Kevin N — 30 Sep 2011

I had trouble stomaching this superficial comedy. It doesn't have a likable character in it and it wastes both the story's potential as well as Claudette Colbert's undeniable talent. It's not funny enough to be a good comedy nor is it mature enough to be a powerful statement on family, and consequently it just flails in between those two aspirations for an achingly long running time.

Fred MacMurray is an actor I can only take one film at a time, and I've come to realize that the roles I like him in (usually roles in Wilder's most bitter films) require little humanity; when he's asked to be a good lover or a family man I just don't think he had the chops.

Hollywood junkies may have some interest in the film as it is the first screen appearance of Ma and Pa Kettle- Ma supplies the film's only real laughs. If there is one situation in the movies where the audience's suspension of belief should not be relied on to tell a story, it is for love.

Assuming that viewers will be as shallow and stupid as his main characters, director Chester Erskine leans on his audience until he's flat on his stomach.