So much average

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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

While Designing Woman isn't as famous as other romantic classics, like Pillow Talk or Woman of the Year, there's a lot to love about this hidden gem from 1957. On a sad note, Humphrey Bogart was dying during the filming of this movie. Lauren Bacall said in her autobiography that Gregory Peck was a wonderful friend to them, and that his kindness and strength helped her survive the terrible tragedy. So, in case you sense any sort of tension in Lauren's performance, I hope you'll cut her some slack.Lauren plays a fashion designer, and Greg plays a sports writer. They fall in love and get married, but after their impulsive decision, they soon find they have very little in common. My favorite scene is when they are ordering at a restaurant. Lauren has previously revealed that she eats a lot when she's happy and in love, so when she orders a humungous meal, she looks at him sheepishly as they both realize she's fallen in love with him. It reminds me of the fantastic line from Sex, Lies and Videotape that Andie MacDowell says: "The last time I was happy, I got so fat!" All in all, it's pretty funny, with jokes about hangovers, sex, and infidelity that snuck past the strict Hollywood censors. If you like either of the leads, or if you like cute, smart flicks from the 1950s, give this one a try. It's as if Lauren's character from How to Marry a Millionaire met Greg's character from Roman Holiday and fell in love!

This is a very funny movie starring Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall in a film with a set-up similar to the Hepburn-Tracy classic Woman of the Year (1942). It deservedly won George Wells his only Oscar (on his only nomination) for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen, and was directed by Vincente Minnelli.Peck is a New York sportswriter who's on the West Coast on assignment, doing a story about a horse race. He wakes up from a drinking binge during which he had met New York fashion designer Bacall, though he doesn't recall it. While he struggles to recover from his hangover, she relates the events of the previous evening which included filling his latest story. He notices how beautiful she is, and they begin a brief torrid affair which leads to a hasty marriage. Of course, each is a "fish out of water" in the other's world, which they begin to discover when they return to New York. Since his apartment is a typically small, messy male abode, they decide to live in her fancy, pastel colored place. This leads to some amusing scenes when he holds his regular card game, with his beer drinking-cigar smoking buddies, in their new home, especially those which involve a punchy ex-boxer Maxie Stultz (Mickey Shaughnessy).Before his West Coast trip, apparently Peck was dating a leggy actress (Dolores Gray), who's a bit surprised, and none to happy, to find out that he's gotten himself married. Bacall knows nothing about this, though she does find pieces of a torn up picture, the actress's legs, while cleaning out his old apartment. Bacall's then hired to work on a film whose star is, of course, the ex-girlfriend. Though the three of them dine together, Peck pretends not to know Gray. One of the film's most hilarious scenes occurs when Bacall's theatrical crowd attempts to do their creative work (including "dancing" by Tom Helmore) for the film at the same time that Peck's macho friends are having their regular card game at the apartment.Besides failing to reveal his relationship with the actress to his new wife, Peck's character has also kept secret the fact that his life is in danger, because he has been writing a series of expose columns about a gangster (Chuck Connors), who's been corrupting sport. When his editor (Sam Levene) decides that Peck should "disappear"for a while in order to finish the series, Bacall finally makes the connection between the legs in the torn photograph and those of her film's leading lady, and assumes the worst.Without revealing too much more, I wanted to make sure to mention the funny scenes which involve Shaughnessy's character, who accompanies Peck for protection when he goes undercover. Though the two never leave New York, Peck is able to convince his punchy bodyguard that they're in a new city every time they change hotels. And, when he hears a bell ring, the ex-boxer thinks he's just been called to begin another round in a fight. Lastly, Jesse White plays the character that helps gangster Connors locate Peck, who will learn to respect Helmore's dancing ability.

This Vincente Minnelli directed comedy/romance film has it's moments, most of all when the elegant Lauren Bacall graces the screen. Gregory Peck tries his best with his part as a sports writer, meeting and marrying fashion designer Bacall after a quick affair. Both don't really know each other, and upon returning home to New York , Peck has quite a time keeping his new wife from meeting his not to happy jilted ex-girlfriend Dolores Gray. If that isn't enough he must leave town after insulting someone in his sports column. Mickey Shaughnessy is quite amusing here playing Maxie Stultz, a punchy ex-pug who is appointed to guard Peck at all times. I quite enjoyed his character who sleeps with his eyes open, with the exasperated Peck declaring, " Open your eyes and go to sleep Maxie." Choreographer Jack Cole saves the day, with a slick impromptu dance that brings down the gangsters trailing Peck. Visually pleasing to watch, with plenty of beautiful fashion's worn by Bacall, this is a film of it's time, and it remains stuck there. If you are a fan of Lauren Bacall, Gregory Peck and films from the 1950's you may find this light comedy entertaining.

A harmless, delightful screwball comedy of 1950s, starring Mr. nice guy Gregory Peck and ice queen Lauren Bacall. I cannot say this film fully exploited both stars' spellbinding charm and 120-minutes is rather too long (there were several times sleepiness almost predominated me). Also the supporting cast is meagre except a foolishly amusing performance by Mickey Shaughnessy as the punchy boxer/bodyguard. The Oscar-winning script deserves more chewing to relish the tit-for-tat rivalry between two leads, after an unexpected flash marriage, they realize that they ought to overcome many differences between them to make their wedlock work. One might feel distanced about being alarmed when the wife found out that her husband hid a picture of a beautiful lady from her, then made a fuss about it, and the discrepant milieu of sport reporter and fashion designer is also over-exaggerated, which all tamper the appreciations from my peers.The end actually ended in a mess, the action part is annoying more than ridiculous, the choreography-cum-combat contrivance is rather a solid laughingstock than an innovation. Nevertheless, for whom I consider a nostalgic spectator of Hollywood in the Golden Age, this film could satisfy you in every respect.