VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

GazerRise Fantastic!

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

dougdoepke No need to recap the plot.For contemporary audiences the 2-hours is likely a matter of taste. For sure, the literary script is totally unlike today's raw comedic antics. The curmudgeonly Whiteside (Wooley) manages to insult just about everyone, but in highly elevated fashion. At times, his jibes are a little much and you want to conk him, but somehow the actor avoids making the snobbish character dislikable. All in all, it's a pretty good thespic feat. The movie's a filmed stage play, which means the director has to keep our eye entertained, which he does by shuffling characters in and out, resulting at times in a kind of madcap. Despite the large cast, and the presence of marquee names like Davis and Sheridan, everything revolves around Wooley's Whiteside. Then too, I suspect other reviewers are correct —Durante's low-brow humor was included as relief from that general flow of sophistication. I'm not surprised the play was a hit in New York City. However, it was apparently a big hit nationally, meaning less cosmopolitan audiences also responded. That, I think, is a tribute to not just Wooley, but the production as a whole. Still, the movie dates itself with passing references to celebrities of the day. And note, in passing, how common man Banjo (Durante) refers to the (Brooklyn) Dodgers, which soon became a movie staple for the common WWII war effortAnyway, for folks wanting a strong contrast to the gutter-language comedy of today, this is a film to catch.

PamelaShort If you enjoy a 1940s style comedy full of delicious sarcastic wit delivered by a most obnoxious character, then The Man Who Came to Dinner is the film for you. Monty Woolley plays Sheridan Whiteside to the hilt, a character who is the most arrogant, conceited, imperious, self-centered man who causes complete chaos to everyone who crosses his path. The ever brilliant Bette Davis is superb as his devoted, long-suffering secretary who finally finds true love. This film is rich with superb actors and actresses of the day including Billie Burke, Jimmy Durante, Ann Sheridan, Richard Travis, Reginald Gardiner, and Mary Wickes all performing their parts finely to keep the comic antics moving perfectly. Their are many good synopsis already written for this film, so I will add that although the film and it's humorous wit are a perfect representation for the time, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I highly suggest the reader to watch this film and be their own judge.

Ignaz Maus Not only is the main character completely obnoxious and annoying, but the stage-originated and stagy plot doesn't work at all. It's so implausible that I wouldn't even know where to begin, so I'll pick one glaring mistake (or oversight) at random. When Jimmy Durante's character locks Ann Sheridan's character in a mummy case, she ought to be pounding and screaming to be let out, but she doesn't make a sound! The whole film is full of gaffes like this; and besides, you know the comedy is failing when the writers think that they have to throw in a flock of penguins for a (hopefully) sure-fire laugh.Sheridan Whiteside's supposedly "witty" lines all fall flat; I didn't laugh even once. If this is supposed to be "sophisticated" 1940's humor, I'll stick with the Marx Brothers... or even the Three Stooges! Not only that, but it goes on much too long; it would have benefited from a cut of at least ten minutes, just to improve the snail-like pace of the plot.It's hard to believe that so many big-name actors and writers were involved in this prize turkey, or that it was a hit in 1942. I guess that wartime audiences were desperate for entertainment. Any entertainment, however flimsy it might be.

SeanJoyce The Christmas season would be nothing if it weren't for its movies. Indeed, gearing up for the big day with movies celebrating the cheer, zaniness, or headache that it brings are as time-honored as picking out the proper tree, baking cookies, or wrapping presents; it's one of our favorite Yuletide pastimes. The 1940s gave us a cinematic stocking stuffed with goodies that have endured as some of our most cherished annual classics: THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, HOLIDAY INN, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, and MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, among others. Another great seasonal helping from this time period is the often overlooked but scathingly brilliant THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER. Famed theater critic, radio personality, and all-around celebrity Alexander Woollcott certainly ensured that his far-reaching influence would be imprinted in the movies. Before serving as the impetus for the coveted character of Addison De Witt that won George Sanders an Oscar, he served as the focus for a play penned by theater luminaries George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart (Pulitzer Prize winners for "You Can't Take it With You".)As the story goes, Woollcott demanded of Kaufman and Hart (who were close friends) that they write a play with him as its subject. The task proved unlikely until Woollcott one day showed up unannounced at Hart's estate, where he proceeded to commander the house by taking up station in the master's bedroom and terrorizing the staff. It didn't take H or K long to realize they had a hit.After declining their offer to play himself, H and K cast Monty Woolley in the role of Woollcott, renamed Sheridan Whiteside. Woolley was a former teacher at Yale who dabbled in acting and later radio. One in attendance for the play's enormously successful run was Bette Davis, who immediately returned to Hollywood with idea to have the play adapted to the screen. She was ecstatic about playing the atypical (for her) role of Whiteside's demure (yet quick-witted) secretary, as long as it meant acting alongside John Barrymore in the role of Whiteside. Barrymore showed interest and auditioned, but his ailing health and poor memory led to his displacement, allowing Woolley to reprise his Broadway triumph. Cranky author and radio personality Whiteside is giving a Christmas lecture tour. In a small Ohio town, he reluctantly accepts the invitation to dine at the affluent home of the Stanleys. A slip on their icy stairs, however, leaves him with an injury that he decides to milk for all it's worth. Taking command of their living quarters, he barks instructions and makes lofty demands. Along the way, he meddles in the affairs and love lives of everybody, including his loyal but droll secretary. As Christmas rapidly approaches, it appears that the Stanleys will have one more guest for the festivities...or they'll be the unwitting guests attending!THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, adapted by the brothers Epstein (Julius and Philip), is characterized by its rapid, knife-edged wit. I mean lethal wit. The kind of wit that would whither J.J. Hunsucker. Whiteside is acid-tongued and relentless, flinging off zingers for every situation and at the expense of everybody who gets in his cantankerous path. The witticisms are sharp and outrageously clever, with a mordancy that borders on contempt. Whiteside is determined to not only be an unpleasant pin in the sides of his overwhelmed "hosts", but an unbearable pain in their behinds. Aside from his verbal executions, Whiteside turns the house upside down in a series of nonstop gags...he invites convicts to lunch, has a crate of penguins delivered so they can run amok, and converts the library into his private news sanctum from which he can issue his annual radio Christmas broadcast. Aside from Woollcott, other famed personalities appear as friends and acquaintances of Whiteside in thinly-veiled characterizations who drop in at their convenience and add to the mayhem. Jimmy Durante is Harpo Marx, Reginald Gardner is Noel Coward, and Ann Sheridan is Gertrude Lawrence (the latter bares her claws as she tries to steal the object of Davis' affections.)The major complaint I've encountered about THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER is that "it's too dated", and the humor is too period-trapped that it ceases to be relevant. The jokes are largely topical, true, referencing persons that would leave most people nowadays scratching their heads. However, I can't imagine anybody who appreciates well-constructed screen writing and intelligent humor to be put off by this. If anything, THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER serves as a reminder that humor was once approached with sophistication and worldliness. Some even accuse it of being too "mean-spirited" for a Christmas film, epitomized by the selfish and acerbic Whiteside. I think that's a ripe exaggeration, and besides, its sharp nature is what appeals to me. It's a fresh alternative to the typical Christmas film.. My only caveat is the "kooky step-sister" angle, which is not only crude, but it's only purpose is to function as a deus-ex-machina (it does provide the film with one of its best punchlines, however.) If you're as big a fan of dialogue-driven films as I am, and can appreciate a movie that dispels with the typical holiday fare in favor of smart albeit wicked humor, then THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER oughta be a dish digested with the rest of your Christmas banquet.So grab some thick eggnog and extra-hoppy beer, and enjoy a riotous double-bill with another "dark" perennial favorite of mine, THE REF. Cheers!