Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

wes-connors In 1927, a "Chautauqua" (traveling troupe of entertainers and speakers) led by Elvis Presley (as Walter Hale) livens up an Iowa town. "The Trouble with Girls" ("...and How to Get Into It" for promotional lure) seems like the usual Elvis film for most of the running - flirty romances, cute kids, and plenty of songs in a carnival-type setting. A murder involving Dabney Coleman occurs later on, which doesn't mix well with the attempted comedy. Vincent Price turns up in a small "guest star" role. John Carradine gets to deliver the film's best line - about "pre-marital relations" in the Des Moines company...After a couple of promising films, Mr. Presley appears to have given up on acting. Looking great in tailored suits and smoking brown cigarettes, he shows zero evidence of having any idea about the film's setting and plot; he simply walks on set and says his lines. There are enough songs to fill a double soundtrack album, but few of them are sung by Presley. The first solo number is delivered by "Brady Kid" Susan Olsen. Elvis' hit from the film is the musically anachronistic "Clean Up Your Own Back Yard". Little Anissa Jones, her likewise cute pal Pepe Brown, and the folksy songs head up a limited appeal.*** The Trouble with Girls (9/3/69) Peter Tewksbury ~ Elvis Presley, Marlyn Mason, Sheree North, Edward Andrews

Michael_Elliott Trouble with Girls, The (1969) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Elvis plays a Chautauqua manager who is struggling to keep the business going. I found this one to be a mixed blessing because there's quite a bit of good things yet there are still some rather bland stuff. Most of the bland stuff is aimed at the music, which I found quite lifeless and dull. The director does a very good job at capturing the look and feel of the show, which is a major plus and even Elvis turns in a good performance here. Vincent Price steals the show with his campy brand of humor and it's nice seeing John Carradine answering a question about Romeo and Juliet and their sex life.

moonspinner55 Elvis Presley runs a traveling medicine show that sweeps into a small Ohio town and stirs up the locals. Interesting (if not entirely convincing) 1920s production design (no one had hair like Elvis in the '20s...or so I've been told), cute kids running around (including Anissa Jones from "Family Affair" and an uncredited Susan Olsen from "The Brady Bunch"), Dabney Coleman doing his schmuck-thing (very well), and a hilarious Joyce Van Patten as an Olympic swimmer. Elvis drops out of sight for much of the proceedings; he's around to break up a fight or help pitch a tent, but the film is mostly about the wacky small town folk. In the final minutes, when Elvis gets up on stage with his guitar, the movie is suddenly no longer about these supporting characters--it's all about E.P. whipping the audience into a frenzy, and the cinematographer goes wild with his zoom-lens. "Girls" is misguided, oddly directed, and unsure of what audience to target, yet there are some good things in it, including an interesting milieu for its star. ** from ****

kwbucsfan While this film is not one of his all time best, it is certainly one of his better later films. It's interesting to see Elvis in a film set in the 1920's rather than the psychadelic 1960's. This movie had an interesting plot, but was marred by some rather bad acting. Elvis was okay and the scene with Vincent Price was interesting, but most of the acting was lame.