Wonderful character development!

Too much of everything

Please don't spend money on this.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Farce where Robert Taylor falls immediately for the fiancée of his best friend, Lew Ayres, none other than Greer Garson.The two quickly wed but seem to be mismatched from the very beginning in this rather dull romantic comedy of 1939.Billie Burke, as Garson's mother, has some funny moments with her usual ditsy behavior and that croaking voice of hers.Laura Hope Crews, Aunt Pity Pat that same year, in "Gone With the Wind" plays Burke's sister but has little to do here.After insulting Garson's family, the two quickly divorce but Ayres steps in to give them both a potion that will make them quickly forget everything. The silliness of the picture is that the two begin their relationship again as history repeats itself.No wonder Ayres takes the potion himself at the film's end. This is really one that we quickly want to forget.Henry Travers, Garson's co-star in the memorable "Mrs. Miniver," plays the judge who marries the couple twice. Twice is more than enough for this film.Garson made another film several years later dealing with forgetfulness, the great "Random Harvest," where Ronald Colman's bout with amnesia was memorable in the film. That was a film to remember.

Greer Garson was a rising star in 1939 and this film was her follow up to "Goodbye Mr. Chips." She had proved unexpectedly popular and the studio hurried this into production. Robert Taylor was in a slump after "Lady of the Tropics" and before "Waterloo Bridge." Robert Osborne, on TCM, commented that the screenwriters were either extremely clever or drunk. I tend to the latter interpretation.The plot involves a love triangle consisting of Taylor, Garson and Lew Ayres. Taylor steals Garson from his old friend Ayres and the two marry. Subsequently Taylor neglects Garson by concentrating on his career. When he misses the boat for their honeymoon, she leaves him and they begin a divorce.Ayres, either to get Garson back or to help the couple, slips each of them an amnesia drug, so that they forget the last six months. It works and, in a manner reminiscent of "Groundhog Day," they repeat their initial meeting and fall in love again, marry again and leave poor Ayres in the dust.The entire cast is very smooth and professional, with Taylor and Ayres both outshining the still new Garson. Supporting actors include Billie Burke and Reginald Owen, both of them doing their signature type of character. Sara Haden is excellent as Taylor's secretary.There is a lot of good dialog, some genuinely funny situations and the usual MGM high gloss. "Remember?" is like a good dessert: rich, tasty but not substantial.

I gave "Remember?" a 6 because of the cast ONLY. I knew there had to be a disaster made during the "magic" year of 1939, and sure enough, this is it. Robert Taylor, Greer Garson, and Lew Ayres star in what surely is the foreshadowing of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" except that this is one case where a later film is better than one from the classic era.The film concerns a man, Jeff Holland (Taylor) who falls in love with his friend Sky's (Lew Ayres) fiancé Linda (Garson) and abruptly marries her. However, he's a workaholic. This makes her very unhappy, and the two divorce. Desirous of getting them back together, Sky uses an experimental drug, that sounded like mematine. It erases everything that happened in the last six months. Interesting, because today there is a drug called memantine for Alzheimer's, so it actually has an opposite effect."Remember?" is only mildly funny. It lacks the pace of a comedy - it's one of those in between things where the story isn't compelling enough to be a drama but doesn't come off like a comedy either. The main part of the plot comes practically at the end of the film. One scene I did love - Billie Burke, as Garson's mother, has a surprise congratulatory party for the new couple. When they arrive, she has everybody hide behind furniture - which has become somewhat tedious, because the Hollands are late and the entire group has been hiding on and off for hours. When they arrive, Jeff and Linda are sent into the library, where Jeff complains to Linda about her father and her family's boring, blowhard friends. Then Billie Burke yells surprise. A very good scene, but there weren't enough of these in the movie to justify it.The performances are good. Taylor is unbelievably handsome and really did have a nice flair for comedy. Lew Ayres, in real life a pacifist, vegetarian, and a very spiritual man, somehow played drinking men very well, and does so in this. Garson was still very early in her career but had already received an Oscar nomination. Guess Mayer thought she was a flash in the pan - this is hardly a step in a prestige career. Garson probably hoped she never was nominated for an Oscar again - who knows what MGM would do to her next. Fortunately it didn't work out that way."Remember?" is one of those films you'll more than likely want to forget.

Robert Taylor and Greer Garson (before she was "Greer Garson").star in this one, of course, which can be both delightful and funny if you watch it with no pretenses. The story is what it is, often impractical and inconsistent, lots of gaps, but it's also very creative. You must simply let it happen. Don't ask questions.Lew Ayre's "Sky Ames" is confounding. He acquiesces to his best friend stealing the love of his life literally right out from under his nose, engineers an outlandish reunion, then finally makes sense in the end when he was to forget the whole thing.Robert Taylor's "Jeff Holland" is a jerk. I found nothing likable about him, which is a shame, but Taylor himself was great. There's a scene where he's talking to his wife about his in-laws and they're all hiding behind furniture waiting for the cue to surprise him. They overheard his tirade, of course, and when they do appear, you watch the brashness Taylor portrays as it is instantly reduced to a guy who feels an inch tall. But then he's back to the jerk again.There's some good supporting acting, as well, and it's worth a look. Be sure to suspend disbelief before viewing.