Written and Directed by Preston Sturges
1941
Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda
If one waits 56 years before they watch Hope Floats, will that make it seem like a classic film? Because if you haven't seen The Lady Eve until 2007, you might be surprised to have (kind of) seen it already. After all, regardless of it's pedigree (a respected director and talented actors) it is, even on deep analysis, nothing more than a romantic comedy. Although it's age may put it among the Citizen Kane camp, this film shares the same DNA that created Kate Hudson's career. Don't perceive a slight--The Lady Eve is, after all, deserving of the title "classic," and old movies don't have to be "important," "artistic" or anything else. What is it that makes this a good romantic comedy? What is it that Eve has that Forces of Nature didn't? There's plenty of obvious answers having to do with a Bullock and a Ben--but is that it? Is it just the charisma of Stanwyck and Fonda that makes the paper-thin plotting of Eve so much stronger? Sturges is able to shoot the movie well enough, but it's not like one finishes Eve and cries out for the man to sit alongside Kubrick and Ozu. He's a good director, a decent writer, and probably an all around fine gentleman. But Eve ain't 2001, and it ain't Casablanca neither.
If you've read even the most brief synopsis of any movie regarding boys meeting girls, you can guess which directions Eve is going to go again--whether you enjoy it or not is solely going to be based on your willingness to jettison your intellect and cynicism and take a ride with Stanwyk, Sturges and Fonda. Although it would be a bit depressing if you laughed out loud, and probably speak to a greater mental deficiency than we have any business examining here, you're more than likely to smile and feel all toasty in your guts during the 90 minutes it takes for these two to patch up their romance. Unlike that feeling of self-loathing that will control your mind after watching Failure to Launch, The Lady Eve is the sort of ephemera that'll make the love of your life proud to be around you.
Probably.
-Tucker Stone, 2007
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