Too much of everything

Such a frustrating disappointment

Sorry, this movie sucks

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A brilliant screwball comedy from 1943 & directed by George Stevens. During WWII, Washington DC had a shortage of lodgings since many people were visiting the city or had business there so one patriotic citizen played by Jean Arthur decides to sublet her place hoping to get a female occupant but when a 60 something man enters the fray & argues his case, she relents. Things go from bad to worse when her border decides to sublet his room to an in transit army officer played by Joel McCrea. Fresh, exciting & ridiculously spontaneous, this is what a screwball comedy has to be.

The More The Merrier represents the screwball genre adapting for the war years however this was at the end of the genre's original run. I wonder why there was not more screwball comedies made during the war period? Did people become more cynical with the war or perhaps the genre was simply made for the depression era. Instead of taking on the establishment like the genre screwball did during the depression, The More The Merrier is supporting it. It is refreshing to see a propaganda film from the war years which is less gloomy and shows how common folk got on with their daily lives during the war.My main flaw with The More The Merrier is Joel McCrea. He's fine but that's the problem, he's only just fine; a serviceable actor who doesn't leave a great impression. He's the weak spot of a trio of characters who could have been much stronger with a more charismatic actor. Granted this was during the war and most of Hollywood's big male leads where off in Europe kicking Hitler's ass. Could Cary Grant have played the role instead, but perhaps a big star like that couldn't play a role in he doesn't show up until half an hour in. The trio of characters still manages to be fun with Jean Arthur playing the straight man and Charles Coburn as an immature and conniving old man who still seems like a kid at heart; while the romance between Arthur and MrCrea is still believable and handled very well as they spend the final third of the film quietly denying their feelings for each other.Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn are one of the more unconventional screen pairings in Hollywood starring in three films together, just look at the morning schedule scene; comic choreographed brilliance and by far my favourite part of the film. When McCrea enters the picture though I feel it is never as strong. Also after you watch this movie you may find yourself saying "dam the torpedoes, full speed ahead!", a lot.

It has a cute script, and perfectly fine acting, but for some reason Jean Arthur affects an accent that sounds like Fran Drescher ate Snookie and then cried about it for more than an hour.It was so distracting that I was hard to maintain immersion and suspension of disbelief. I'm not usually put off by dialog/accent choices, but this was so inexplicable and so unavoidable that it sort of ruined the movie watching experience.Other than that, it was a perfectly serviceable romantic comedy from the 40's. Nothing amazing, nothing awful, certainly worth a view - especially subtitled on mute.

I recommend dakota_linda ("Delightful if not quite perfect", dakota_linda from United States, 14 June 2009) and denscul ("A really funny 'war' movie about the housing shortage in Washington", denscul from virginia, 21 January 2007). Both writers express their praise for "The More the Merrier" (TMM) very well.TMM has disappointing story holes. It also has embarrassing racism to Japanese. It isn't first-rate screwball comedy. It has some exceptional ideas, but is dated. TMM comes from an era of movie making where audiences were familiar with screwball comedy conventions; so many shortcuts are taken that confuse us today. An example from the end is the reputation-killing gossip columnist who the other characters believe will do them harm. The modern audience doesn't understand how powerful a gossip columnist was back then, so the characters' desperate response is perplexing.The principal three members of the cast play their parts very well. Cockburn wins the Oscar, but Joel McCrea is even better to me. Jean Arthur also plays the indecisive Connie Milligan exceptionally well. Her character loses control in the last two scenes; certainly she's crying too much for a modern audience to find agreeable.I like how McCrea's Joe Carter is introduced. He's literally carrying a propeller after Coburn's Benjamin Dingle is repeating the "Damn the Torpedoes" mantra. McCrea is introduced to us as the stationary male. In the final scene that dog is loose. That's a beautiful transition, and a little singing makes the ending memorable.The silly sequence where Connie and Joe first meet is one of the film's strengths. The late-game love talk between Joe and Connie (who are separated by a wall) is exquisite. The derogatory references to Japanese are all painful to endure. The FBI involvement is completely naive to a modern audience. All suggestions about government representatives sincerely trying to enact policy on behalf of the public interest is ludicrous today."The More the Merrier" is never laugh-out-loud funny, but is worthwhile despite plot twists that are not conceivable today. It would have been great to have been alive in 1943. Those people lived in a blessed time without realizing it.