If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

As Good As It Gets

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

... with the first act being his dance partnership with his sister and his second act being his RKO years."Second Chorus" is not a widely known film, but it will probably be enjoyable to any fan of Fred Astaire. If you're not particularly fond of Astaire, you might want to pass on this one since seeing Astaire in action in an unusual role is the main attraction. The story is that Danny O'Neill (Fred Astaire) and Hank Taylor (Burgess Meredith) are leaders of a band. The two have been intentionally failing in college, because they like the atmosphere, and also because as long as they are officially students they can spend their time running the band and making a pretty good living at it. When Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard) enters the picture, they both get greedy and want her attention for themselves. Thus they each double-cross the other and both wind up getting expelled from the university, thus ending their cozy arrangement with their band. They spend most of the rest of the film continuing to double-cross one another, this time over trying to get into Artie Shaw's band as well as trying to win over the affections of Ellen, who now works for Shaw.The things that are not so great about this film are the less than great comic timing, and the tiresome scenes with J. Lester Chisholm, played by Charles Butterworth. Mr. Butterworth is no Edward Everett Horton, and as a less-than-adequate character actor you just want to shoo the guy off stage every time he turns up. Also, if you're watching this film to see lots of Astaire's wonderful dancing, you'll likely be somewhat disappointed. He does do some singing and dancing, but this film mainly shows off his comic abilities, of which the mischievous Astaire has plenty. This part would have been better if the comic timing of the script had been tighter, though.

This is deservedly considered Fred Astaire's weakest film, not in his performance, but in the plot line and in its production values. First of all, as a 42 year old college student who has stayed in school simply for the fact that as a student, he continues to have gigs as the college's band leader (along with Burgess Meredith!) is already a ridiculous set-up. Then, how the two best pals try to sabotage each other for the love of their young manager (Paulette Goddard, who would end up marrying Meredith in real life!) during a public audition with Artie Shaw's band isn't realistic considering the alleged closeness of their friendship. (I'm surprised that they didn't have Meredith didn't sit up front sucking on a lemon while Astaire played his solo). Toss in Charles Butterworth as the mandolin playing benefactor of a concert Shaw is giving and a plot to keep him off stage with his mandolin during the performance, and there's little to do but groan.In spite of the fact that next to Joan Fontaine, Goddard was considered Astaire's weakest dancing partner, she actually does good in their one number together. He may have worked her hard and given her some fairly easy steps, but she manages to pull it off. Goddard does have some romantic chemistry with Astaire, not as light on her feet as Ginger Rogers, but equally as sexy. The big band sequences feature some fun if unmemorable jazz music, and Astaire's dance while conducting Shaw's band seems strangely out of place. Still, there are some moments of amusement and any film where Astaire dances can't be all that bad.

Disappointing overall, first of all you have to buy the premise of Astaire and Meredith being old enough to be at college. They both charitably look at least 40 which throws the story in to a level of reality even further removed than you might expect from an early 40's Hollywood musical. There are great sequences, a swing number between Goddard, and Astaire is the highlight. I also enjoyed Astaire tackling a cossack dance; more of the above dance scenes would have improved the movie. The story is awkwardly constructed though and frankly unconvincing. Artie Smith is good, but the music lacks sparkle overall. Not a great or even a good movie, not a complete waste of time though, the good dance numbers are worth watching for their own sake.

The only things that save Second Chorus from being a complete disaster are Astaire's dancing and Artie Shaw and his band's music.The writing is horrendous, managing to make even Astaire's character dislikable, as he does truly nasty things to his "friend," the equally dislikably nasty Burgess Meredith.Charles Butterworth, who is supposed to be the comic foil in this picture, is as lame an actor as I've seen.Finally, the look of the film is awful, with harsh lighting and shadows. (I realize this may be because the surviving print of this film has deteriorated over the years.) Unfortunately, the music and dance numbers are few and far between. However, if you're a die hard Astaire and/or big band fan, it's worth fast-forwarding through the dialog to get to any scene where Fred's dancing or Artie and his band are playing.