TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Plustown
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
gavin6942
After five years lost at sea, a missing wife (Doris Day) thought long dead returns just after her husband (James Garner) remarries.For the first half of this film, we have what amounts to more or less your typical romantic comedy of the era: a man and his wife trying to reconcile after five years, with some big obstacles in their way. Hilarity ensues, and fans of Day and Garner will love it.Then comes a bit of a plot twist, which turns up the heat... and we get to see Don Knotts in a much-too-small role. How will things turn out when we find that the wife has more than a few secrets of her own? And is it even worth trying to make things work at that point?
secondtake
Move Over, Darling (1963)The situation is hilarious--a man finally gives up his wife as dead in a plane crash in the South Pacific and remarries. Then she comes home, just hours after the ceremony. And in time to avoid the classic consummation at the ritzy hotel. Doris Day plays the lost wife returning home and her hubby is the charming James Garner. And Garner's mother--Day's mother in law--is played by the impeccable Thelma Ritter.So what could go wrong here? Nothing much really. It's colorful, plasticky, fun, goofy, and well written. Except that it's a remake of a more famous and in many ways better movie starring the snappy on-screen couple: Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. The original is called "My Favorite Wife," and I totally recommend it. It must have occurred to these newer actors that they had huge huge shoes to fill. And to make things more weird, Doris Day is basically filling in for Marilyn Monroe, who died during the filming of this same kind of plot (though this movie started the idea almost from scratch, only Ritter and some of the sets being carried over).One way to avoid comparisons is to never see the original. We all know the dangers there--who wants to only see the second or third "King Kong" or the second "The Women" and so on? But there is also the truth that Doris Day is her own commodity. She is convincingly regular, a true 50s/60s mom type for middle class America (though be sure, these are all extremely rich people here, part of the glamorizing that the audience craves). So go back to the start here--this is a well made, fast paced, silly movie in the Doris Day vein. She's the true star, though Garner does his best to be a somewhat more conventional Grant. There are a couple of scenes that will crack you up beyond the endless smaller jokes and gags. One is where Day pretends to be a Swedish masseuse and ends up "massaging" that is torturing the new wife. The other is a wonderful automatic car wash scene in a classic car with suds flying--and the top to the car goes down by mistake. Day is an amazing sport for all of this.
TheLittleSongbird
As a big fan of Doris Day, I loved Move Over Darling. My Favourite Wife is often compared to this film, but I personally prefer this film. Move Over Darling is funny, charming and without a wasted scene. The film looks fabulous, with beautiful cinematography and fresh-looking scenery, while the soundtrack is bright and breezy. Then there is an engaging story, a witty and charming script and professional direction.Not only that there is some fine acting in this film. I have always loved Doris Day, not only as a talented singer but as a fresh and endearing actress, and she is lovely in Move Over Darling, and James Garner as always is immensely likable. While Polly Bergen and Chuck Connors give perfect support as the other woman and the hunk marooned with Day, it is the delightful Thelma Ritter who steals the show as Day's outspoken mother-in-law.Overall, one of my favourite Doris Day films, and a film that is warm, witty and charming. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Martin Bradley
This might have been a lot different were it called "Something's Got to Give" had Marilyn Monroe not been sacked from what might or might not have been her final film. So many 'what if's'. Instead, it became a vehicle for Doris Day, playing the part Irene Dunne played in "My Favourite Wife", of which this is a mildly entertaining, mildly funny remake. None of it rings true, but then farces usually don't and this is a farce which is why we wish it were funnier.In this one Day is chirpy rather than starchy but is prone to mugging, (something she was inclined to do from time to time). The husband who has just remarried, (Day has 'come back from the dead'; she was marooned on a desert island, presumed drowned), is James Garner who was a much finer comedian than he was given credit for. Polly Bergen, looking uncomfortable, is the new wife and Thelma Ritter, as ever, steals the picture as the mother-in-law.
