Absolutely Fantastic

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This film is worth watching for the very sharp and witty dialogue. It is still very funny and entertaining. Some of the best lines are towards the end, like Jimmy Durante hoisting up shocked nurse Mary Wickes in his arms and saying, "Meet me in my room in a half an hour with a loaf of rye bread!" Bette Davis does a decent job with a role that doesn't suit her very well, and she seems a bit melancholy, perhaps because the script requires her to play a cruel trick on an unsuspecting person. It doesn't seem like something her character would do, and the playwrights should have found another way to make the plot device happen. But don't let that spoil the fun, this is a light-hearted romp and should be enjoyed as such. Monty Woolley is perfect as Sheridan Whiteside, roaring like a lion and enjoying himself immensely in the role.

I only came on here to say that yes, this movie tries real hard, but it was made during WW2. Many movie tried too hard...to bring some kind of distraction from the horrors of war. It's a well-known fact. That being said I thought it was a great movie.

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEWED ONE FILM. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE FILM. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY THEME MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM FARE ABOUT THESE FILMS.During a cross-country lecture tour, notoriously acerbic radio personality Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Woolley) slips on the icy steps of the house of the Stanleys (Grant Mitchell and Billie Burke), a prominent Ohio family, and insists on recuperating in their home during the Christmas holidays. The overbearing, self-centered celebrity soon comes to dominate the lives of the residents and everyone else who enters the household. He encourages young adults Richard (Russell Arms) and June (Elisabeth Fraser) Stanley to pursue their dreams, much to the dismay of their conventional father Ernest.This is a classic film. Its very funny and should be made mandatory viewing! Films today are no longer made this way and that is sad. In 50 years people will still be watching this. Will they still be watching "Office Christmas Party"

I'm really surprised at how many negative reviews there are for this film, considered by many (myself included) to be a comedy classic. In today's era when insult humor, sarcasm, cynicism, and downright nastiness are the status quo, one would expect a comedy with bite like this to be more beloved than most from the Golden Age. The story, adapted from George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's play, is about an acid-tongued radio personality (based on the real-life Alexander Woollcott) who is injured and forced to stay in the home of a Midwestern family over the Christmas season. He takes over their home, sticks his nose into their affairs, berates everyone, and proves himself to be the worst, most obnoxious houseguest ever.Despite being third-billed, Monty Woolley is the true star here in his signature role. He manages to make a jerk character likable long enough for us to eventually find out he does have a heart after all. He has almost all of the film's many quotable lines. Bette Davis is solid in a lesser part for her at this point in her career. She's very 'ordinary' here, which makes this a different kind of role for her but still fascinating for her fans. She also has one of my favorite lines from the film not spoken by Woolley - "Here I am a hard-bitten old cynic, behaving like Winnie the Pooh and liking it." Lovely Ann Sheridan, as a seductive diva, comes closest to stealing any of the scenes from Woolley. It's one of my favorite roles of hers and, no, not just because in one scene she goes braless under a blouse that leaves little to the imagination. I'm shocked that made it past the censors. The rest of the excellent cast includes Billie Burke, Jimmy Durante, Grant Mitchell, Reginald Gardiner, and Mary Wickes. The lone complaint I have about the cast is Richard Travis as the local journalist and would-be playwright who becomes Bette's love interest. He's insufferably corny, with a wooden line delivery that grates on the nerves. Someone like Dennis Morgan could have pulled off the "aww shucks" routine with far more charisma (and he probably would have thrown in a song, too). There is a staginess to the film at times, as there almost always was back in the day when they adapted plays to the screen. But the script is so good and the cast so nice that it didn't bother me. It's a great movie that most classic film fans will enjoy, particularly fans of Sheridan and Woolley.