Bam Bam & Celeste
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Cho Ho
  • Road Trip
  • dark humor and sweet release
  • Very Fun Movie
  • If I were capable of feeling guilt...this would be a guilty pleasure.
Bam Bam & Celeste
Starring: Margaret Cho , Alan Cumming , and Elaine Hendrix
Manufacturer: WOLFE VIDEO
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

ComedyComedy | By Genre | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video
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Cho, MargaretCho, Margaret | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Cumming, AlanCumming, Alan | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Hendrix, ElaineHendrix, Elaine | ( H ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
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Independently DistributedIndependently Distributed | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000RO8PPQ
Release Date: 2007-08-14

Amazon.com

Margaret Cho cheers on social outcasts in the charming comedy Bam-Bam & Celeste. Dictator-obsessed punkette Celeste (stand-up comedienne Cho, who also wrote the screenplay) and her gay hairdresser "boyfriend" Bam-Bam (Bruce Daniels, Can't Stop Dancing) flee the Illinois town where they've been taunted and harassed all their lives, hoping to get on a makeover show in New York called Trading Faces. Like all cinematic road trips, this is a journey of self-discovery, in which Celeste learns to love herself for herself--but though the conclusion is no surprise, getting there is offbeat and fun, with oddball episodes featuring "the lesbian lone ranger" (Jane Lynch, The 40 Year Old Virgin), a racist convenience-store clerk (Danny Hoch, Whiteboyz), and Bam-Bam and Celeste's final confrontation with their high school nemeses turned beauty-salon moguls. The day is saved in the end by Celeste's mother, also played by Cho--basically playing her own mother, as she does in her stand-up act. Alan Cumming (The Anniversary Party) plays Celeste's e-mail pal who happens to work on Trading Faces, while John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) is the show's snooty host. The bubbly camp of Bam-Bam & Celeste doesn't feel forced or insular, but like an honest celebration of misfit culture and blazing one's own trail. A loose, silly, but enjoyable movie. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

Celeste (Margaret Cho) and Bam Bam (Bruce Daniels) are best friends still stuck in the white bread Midwest hometown where they grew up. Celeste lives at home with her out-of-touch Mommy (also played by Cho) and has retained her outcast status since high school. She and Bam Bam are free-spirited rejects in a town where looking or dressing differently is perpetually uncool.

Shunned on a good day and taunted on a bad one, the only thing Bam Bam and Celeste have is each other. They both feel life is passing them by. After seeing an ad for a contestant search for TRADING FACES, a reality makeover show in N.Y., they decide to follow their dreams to New York City.

Their yellow brick road to the Big Apple is strewn with potential disasters and comical crises, as they encounter thugs, survivalists, racists and a lesbian Lone Ranger, played with ballsy charm by Jane Lynch (40-Year Old Virgin, Best in Show) and other roadside distractions before finally reaching The City. They arrive, only to find their hometown high-school nemeses, now the style dictators of the world-famous Salon Mirage, sitting in judgment at TRADING FACES.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Cho Ho.......2007-09-10

Very Cho... I saw some of her stand-up routine in the movie. I wish there would have been more. This is definitely not for children. An epilog would have been nice to complete the story.

4 out of 5 stars Road Trip.......2007-08-22

"Bam Bam and Celeste"

Road Trip

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

"Bam Bam and Celeste" is a feel good movie loaded with lots of good camp with a great cast. The supporting cast is fantastic and just to watch the many cameos make the movie a special treat. Margaret Cho plays both Celeste and her mother and does a great job. Alan Cumming s absolutely wonderful and Elaine Hendrix is so very evil that you have to love to hate her--she is brilliant.
"Bam Bam and Celeste" moves quickly and the movie is completely enjoyable even with the poor direction. I could not help but laugh all the way through the film. . What makes this movie so special is that the movie dared to go both after and with the stereotypes and turn them upside down and inside out.
The movie is a road trip from somewhere which is really nowhere to New York City in a car that is so gay it cannot be described. Along with the wonderful comedy is Margaret Cho's unique humor replete with her brashness and brutal honesty. Racial slurs are all over the place which makes us aware as to how widespread prejudice is in our world today and even though it was sometimes painful to hear occasionally, knowing that it was meant to highlight the way we live, definitely hit home. Sometimes they slurs were so direct that I could not help but wince but this is a problem that we can no longer ignore and it just heightened awareness of a shameful part of American culture. Beneath the comedy there is a strong message that cries out to us to be caring and accepting.
This is a movie that demands a wide audience because it has so much to say to us and so many needs to hear. What a great way to teach a lesson--through comedy. Even while you laugh, you realize that your laughter is based upon a shameful practice but if you realize it, then you know that things must change. Hopefully, the movie will get to the audience that needs it so badly.

4 out of 5 stars dark humor and sweet release.......2007-07-21

Antithetical to the laugh-so-hard-you'll-cry theory is comedian and activist Margaret Cho, who will have you crying, hard, before making you laugh like you've never laughed before. In her stand-up shows, she tells achingly raw stories about the torment of growing up "different" and does so in a way that makes her the only comedian who can respond to racial slurs with "f*ck you" and pull it off like the most brilliant one-liner ever. Those soul-quenching moments of sweet release don't come as often in Bam Bam and Celeste, but hey--we finally get to see Margaret dressed up as her mother, which alone makes the film worth watching.

Bam Bam and Celeste are best friends from high school who discover they've become "townies." They leave their midwestern hometown for NYC in order to face their high school nemeses on the makeover show "Trading Faces." Many encounters--pleasant and otherwise--arise along the way.

The thing about Cho's stand-up stories is that they are inherently unfunny. It's her comments about the stories that are side splitting. Seeing the stories come to visual life is painful. Hate crimes just don't translate well as "zany antics." But Margaret Cho is still damn funny.

Bruce Daniels brings a charmingly understated quality to the outrageous Bam Bam, whose gas siphoning abilities are, um, jaw droppingly good. Bam Bam adores Celeste and thinks she's beautiful. His innocent confusion as to why this assertion would be questioned is wonderfully sweet. I haven't liked Alan Cumming ever since his "little league" comment on the L-Word, but he pulls off the adorably klutzy show coordinator who has a crush on Celeste.

The evil arch-nemesis Jackie (played flawlessly by Elaine Hendrix) remains painfully static and is possibly responsible for the film's flat ending, which should be the time we stand up and cheer along with the film's TV audience. Jackie's comeuppance isn't equivalent to the torment she's distributed; furthermore, she's more psychotic than misguided and, therefore, impervious to true retribution.

Cho fans who've been waiting for a full on "Mommy Cho" impression will not be disappointed. In addition to the always wonderful Cho and Daniels, campy colors and outstanding guest stars (Jane Lynch, Kathy Najimy) make this a trip worth taking. Despite the loose narrative thread and content mishaps, Bam Bam and Celeste made me laugh out loud, which is the little black dress of comedy.

4 out of 5 stars Very Fun Movie.......2007-07-19

I was lucky enough to meet the two stars and receive a copy of the screener recently, and I really enjoyed the film. It's a fun movie that makes you feel good about who you are!

4 out of 5 stars If I were capable of feeling guilt...this would be a guilty pleasure........2007-07-01

There is no doubt that Celeste & Bam Bam is borderline ridiculous and often very silly. However, it is also irrepressibly likable, loaded with some great one liners, and is a refreshingly undemanding entertaining watch.
You may be familiar with the story; two small town outcasts go on a quest to find themselves and escape their present situations. After the initial set-up where we're introduced to young queen (Bam Bam) and his awkward best friend (Celeste), a zany road-trip ensues. Splashes of intermittent hilarity follows as Celeste & Bam Bam adventure their way to "the big city" in search of all of their dreams.
All in all this is a very light and funny ride. Margaret Cho & Bruce Daniels are committed to their roles, and the rest of the cast, including the always likeable Alan Cummings, are more than willing and more often than not, very funny. The whole thing feels like a wonderful 80's throwback a la John Hughes and clearly has its heart in the right place. A fun party movie and a nice discovery. Recommended.
The Cary Grant Box Set (Holiday / Only Angels Have Wings / The Talk of the Town / His Girl Friday / The Awful Truth)
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Five of Grant's best in one attractive package
  • Cary Grant Collection
  • Creme de la Cary.
  • Great Early Cary Grant Movies.
  • Thanks, Universal
The Cary Grant Box Set (Holiday / Only Angels Have Wings / The Talk of the Town / His Girl Friday / The Awful Truth)
Starring: Katharine Hepburn , Cary Grant , Doris Nolan , Lew Ayres , and Edward Everett Horton
Director: George Cukor , Howard Hawks , and George Stevens
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

GeneralGeneral | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video
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Allen, HarryAllen, Harry | ( A ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Ayres, LewAyres, Lew | ( A ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000CEV3L4
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Description

Holiday
Free-thinking Johnny Case finds himself betrothed to a millionaire's daughter and having difficulties being able to spend the early years of his life on "Holiday."

Only Angels Have Wings
Jean Arthur is a stranded showgirl who sets her sights on Cary Grant in this rousing adventure tale of men who fly mail planes over the Andes.

The Talk of the Town
A charming fugitive, a beautiful teacher, and a stuffy lawyer, forced to become roommates, are rumor-mill fodder in this madcap romantic farce.

His Girl Friday
A classic comedy in which Rosalind Russell plays reporter Hildy Johnson, who, on the eve of her remarriage, is talked into one more assignment by her editor and ex-husband.

The Awful Truth
The screwball antics of a couple (Irene Dunne and Cary Grant) who can't stand being married, but can't stand seeing the other married to anyone else.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Five of Grant's best in one attractive package.......2007-06-27

The problem with some DVD box sets is that there's usually a film or two included that you could very well do without or perhaps would not even like in your film collection. No such problem with the simply named "The Cary Grant Box Set" which includes five movies that are all among Grant's very best. That alone makes this a must-have for Grant fans. So the featurettes, the vintage replica movie postcards and the overall attractive packaging are bonuses -- significant ones at that.
The films feature such wonderful leading ladies as Jean Arthur (twice) Rosalind Russell, Irene Dunne and the incomparable Katherine Hepburn. Hepburn appears in "Holiday" directed by George Cukor, a depression era film that skewers the upper class. Grant plays Johnny Case an up and coming young business man who thinks more of exploring life than of making money. He finds himself in love with the daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur but it is soon obvious that he has more in common with the girl's sister. Lew Ayers turns in a memorable performance as the brother, a philosophizing drunk.
"Only Angels Have Wings" offers a very different Grant, this time playing a the leader of a crew of daring mail pilots in South America. Here Jean Arthur is the love interest though a lovely young Rita Hayworth offers competition. Thomas Mitchell is part of a stellar cast directed by the great Howard Hawks.
"Talk of the Town" is to me one of the most underrated films of all time. Grant is Leopold Dilg a labor activist framed for a factory bombing. After escaping from jail he hides out in the bucolic summer home of an old childhood friend played by Jean Arthur. The catch is that she's renting the home to one of America's leading legal minds a supreme court candidate played by Ronald Coleman. There is comedy, the inevitable romance and a good deal of politics in this surprisingly thought provoking film directed by George Stevens.
Grant is again directed by Hawks but this time in a classic screwball comedy in "His Girl Friday." This remake of "Front Page" introduced the concept of rapid fire overlapping dialogue, principally between Grant and co-star Russell who play a former husband and wife team that doubled as a newspaper reporting dynamic duo. Grant would like them back together again but Russell and a would-be second husband played by Ralph Bellamy have other ideas. Grant is diabolical and hilarious as he manipulates events around a forthcoming execution in an effort to get the girl and the story. Among the laughs, "His Girl Friday" also has a points to make about corruption, media and justice.
"The Awful Truth" starring Grant and Dunne is straight screwball as the two stars play a divorcing married couple that maybe doesn't really want to separate. Leo McCarey directed this fast paced romp, poor old Ralph Bellamy is again Grant's hapless foil.
In the unlikely event I'm sent to a desert island that has a DVD player and can only bring a few DVD sets, this one is coming with me. In any event this box set should find itself on the the shelves of any Cary Grant fan.

5 out of 5 stars Cary Grant Collection.......2007-06-21

No actor epitomizes classical Hollywood cinema like the ultra-suave, thoroughly professional Cary Grant, the leading man's leading man. This box set collects Grant's greatest hits of the late '30s-early '40s, right after he jettisoned his stifling Paramount contract to become a free agent for Columbia and RKO. Acting opposite Irene Dunne, Katharine Hepburn, and Rosalind Russell in the set's three uproarious screwball comedies ("Truth", "Holiday", and "Friday", respectively), Grant shows off his inimitable flair for witty, machine-gun repartee. Only the riveting "Angels" and more cerebral "Talk" (opposite the incomparable Jean Arthur) demonstrate why Hitchcock, among others, found the gentleman star such an appealing straight man. If you adore Cary Grant the way I do, this set is a must-have.

5 out of 5 stars Creme de la Cary........2007-04-15

The idea of putting a collection of a screen star's films is always a great idea, but most of the time it doesn't follow through (Exhibit A: The James Stewart Signature Collection. As much as, well, everybody loves Jimmy Stewart, did we really need "The Cheyenne Social Club"??). That is hardly the case here. Included are essential Cary Grant films, both classic (His Girl Friday), underrated (Only Angels Have Wings) or unreleased (Holiday), his breakthrough role (The Awful Truth), and a charming social comedy (The Talk of the Town).

*THE AWFUL TRUTH: Jerry (Grant) and Lucy Warriner (Irene Dunne) both think that they have caught each other in infidelity (He returns home from a "business trip" from Florida with oranges from California, She comes back arm in arm with her French voice teacher), so they divorce each other, with 90 days until the thing becomes final. In those 90 days, she dates a sweet, bumbling oil man from Texas (Ralph Bellamy, who made a career out of playing the guy who loses the girl to Cary Grant, see HIS GIRL FRIDAY), and he romances an heiress. As their divorce's final date gets closer and closer, they realize that they're not ready to let each other go...leading to screwball results. This is the film that established Cary as a genuine star, a romantic leading man. His rapport with Irene Dunne is magical, and she's hysterical, especially towards the end when she tries to embarrass his stuffy fiancee's family by pretending to be his boozy sister "Lola Warriner." But beneath the laughs lie a deep understanding of marriage and the melancholy of love, leading to one of the cleverest ending shots in history.

*HIS GIRL FRIDAY: Undoubtably the funniest, fastest film ever made. Ace reporter Hildy Johnson (the brilliant Rosalind Russell) just wants to quit the newspaper business and settle down with a safe (re: dull) fiance Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy) in Albany. But her ex-husband/boss/editor Walter Burns (Grant) won't let her go that easily. Russell is probably the only woman who could go shoulder-to-shoulder with Cary Grant, in a way that even Katharine Hepburn and Irene Dunne couldn't have topped. She delivers each of her lines with precise timing, and proves that, like all great Hawksian women, she is "just one of the guys." This was the third collaboration between Grant and Howard Hawks, the versatile director of "Bringing Up Baby", "Scarface", "Only Angels Have Wings" and "The Big Sleep." They made 5 films together, 4 screwball comedies and one action-adventure/drama (ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS). This is the best of their screwball comedies, and Cary Grant's on-screen persona as a lovable rogue who gets the girl by being the crueller of the two and always indirectly asking her to stay, is at his best here. This film is a must-have for any film buff.

*THE TALK OF THE TOWN: Although this is the least flashy of the set, it's a nicely made comedy of social manners directed by George Stevens. Leopold Dilg (Grant) is a political activist who is framed for arson and murder. He hides out in the summer house of Nora Shelley (Jean Arthur), a teacher as well as Leopold's childhood sweetheart. But Nora has rented out the house to a stuffy candidate for a seat on the Supreme Court, Professor Lightcap (Ronald Coleman). After Leopold has introduced himself to the professor as Joseph the Gardener, Nora and Leopold must convince the professor to help Leopold out. The dialogue about social conflict hasn't aged very much and translates well today. Though the love triangle is a little bit stale, all three actors make their roles lively and believable. Jean Arthur particularly has nice chemistry with Grant.

*HOLIDAY: Johnny Case (Grant), a fun-loving man with a joie de vivre, thinks he has met the love of his life in Julia Seton (Doris Nolan), a woman he knows little about other than that he loves her. When he goes to meet her family, he realizes that she belongs to a very rich family of bankers, whose matriarch is particularly stuffy and wants his daughter to marry into another rich family. Johnny also meets Julia's siblings, the alcoholic Ned and independent-thinking Linda (Katharine Hepburn). As the film continues, Johnny and the audience find out just how much Julia is like her father, someone who only cares about money, and we see that Johnny is really a much better match for Linda. But will he follow his brain or his heart? (Little hint: if you actuall think that Cary Grant will ride off into the sunset with someone named Doris Nolan, you've never seen a movie.) Slight predictability aside, this is a sparkling gem. Johnny doesn't want to work all his life; his plan is to save up enough money to spend his days in relaxation and on holiday, then go back to work when he's figured out what he's working for. This type of thinking would become a hit in the 60s, so it's incredibly surprising to see it shown in a movie from 1938. Katharine Hepburn is wonderful in her signature role, and independent woman with a heart full of love underneath it all. I liked how even though you know that Cary and Katharine will end up together, you see genuine chemistry, especially in their body language, between Cary and Doris Nolan. Her flaw isn't initially obvious, unlike how you see a mile ahead that Meg Ryan and Bill Paxton aren't a match in SLEEPLESS IN SEATLE, or Woody Allen and Mariel Hemingway in MANHATTAN. This film was ahead of its time in so many ways, and if not for the lack of sex, violence and today's modern stars, I'd confuse it for a romantic comedy made from today.

*ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS: Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur again) is on her way back to New York, just passing through a small Columbian town Barranca, home to a group of tough-shelled pilots who fly mail to hard-to-reach places. The leader of these pilots is Geoff Carter (Grant), who has the toughest shell to crack. He never has attachments to anybody, probably due to the frequent deaths of friends. This is shown in the first twenty mintues of the film, when the death of a pilot devestates Bonnie but the gang acts as though nothing has happened. It doesn't take her long to become just "one of the guys", and she decides to stay. Another unexpected visitor comes in the form of Bat Kilgallen--MacPherson, a pilot shunned for previously jumping out of a crashing plane, leaving his engineer to die...the man he left to die was the brother to Kid Dabb (Thomas Mitchell), Geoff's best friend. Also along for the ride is Judy MacPherson, Geoff's ex-love. As tensions both personal and sexual start to rise, we are entertained by a nifty script with numerous memorable quotes, excellent performances and some spectacular flying scenes which aren't cutting-edge by today's standards but nonetheless thrilling. This is a great role for Grant, as a stoic man who gradually unravels the veil to reveal a sad and broken man, something he would do 7 years later in NOTORIOUS. Jean Arthur makes another great Hawksian woman, probably the most vulnerable of them all. Her chemistry with Grant is sweet (just look at the scene where he scoops her up in his arms, thinking her leg is hurt) and natural. An underrated film for both Grant and Hawks, this was a big hit in 1939, considered the golden age of cinema. This film is usually passed over for films like GONE WITH THE WIND and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON among others, but this melodrama comes off as a standard action film and ends up becoming a revealing character study. If only Michael Bay could take notes from this film...

You won't find a better collection of Cary Grant films in a better boxed set. Included are 10 postcards from his films (Represented for each is film is one picture of him and his leading lady, the other is a copy of the original poster), plus the box package has some swank photos of Cary and some of his greatest quotes ("Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant."). Don't we all, Cary. Don't we all...

5 out of 5 stars Great Early Cary Grant Movies........2007-03-19

This collection is very good. You have some of Cary Grants best screwball comedies, and a couple of his best dramatic work. The movie Holiday is making its debut on DVD. You also get to see how Cary Grant became a major force in Hollywood. This is worth every cent you pay for it. These are all genuine classic movies.

5 out of 5 stars Thanks, Universal.......2007-01-04

I've been waiting for two of these for years. I gave this five stars for the movies alone. All are clean and easy to watch. Universal did a first class job there. However they then put them in a cardboard case which I don't like. A little more spent on regular plastic cases and cover art would have made this better. That being said I would have paid twice the price as it is.
The Talk of the Town
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Entertaining classic with starred cast
  • 3 great actors & a great director sometimes only equals an ok movie
  • Innocence revealed, though it's a struggle all the way
  • Enjoyable!
  • A great social-statement comedy....
The Talk of the Town
Starring: Cary Grant , Jean Arthur , Ronald Colman , Edgar Buchanan , and Glenda Farrell
Director: George Stevens
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

GeneralGeneral | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000083C8K
Release Date: 2003-02-25

Amazon.com essential video

The screwball comedy was the definitive genre of the Depression, but as America edged toward war in the early '40s, it suffered some strange and wonderful mutations--none stranger than The Talk of the Town, directed by George Stevens from a script by novelist Irwin Shaw and frequent Capra collaborator (and future blacklist victim) Sidney Buchman. Cary Grant, awkwardly cast, is a small-town political agitator who is framed for the burning of a local factory; he takes refuge in the attic of a country cottage that landlady Jean Arthur is preparing to rent out to a celebrated law professor (silver-tongued Ronald Colman, perhaps the only actor in Hollywood who could make Grant look like a proletarian). Stevens, suspended between his light '30s style (Swing Time) and his heavy postwar manner (A Place in the Sun), struggles to balance a charming, surprisingly suspenseful romantic triangle with the heavy, debating-society tone of the screenplay, which pits Grant, the representative of a compassionate, emotional sense of justice, against the cool, abstract application of the law advocated by Colman. Caught between these two highly verbal characters, Jean Arthur doesn't have much to do but be adorable and provide the occasional quizzical reaction shot--two things she does with exquisite skill. Stevens and Arthur teamed up again one year later for another strange-bedfellows farce, the marvelous The More the Merrier; in 1953 Arthur made her final film appearance in Stevens's Shane. --Dave Kehr

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Entertaining classic with starred cast.......2007-04-05


This George Stevens screwball comedy hasn't aged as one would have wished. It has an excellent cast. Cary Grant is in his best, Ronald Colman does his role fine, and Jean Arthur does her best. The first 3 minutes so many things happen, and so fast, that one expects to have a sure great time. But once the story gets going the scenes run repetitive and slower. The lines grow longer and become empty talk. A screwball comedy is not an easy thing to do, but you only have to compare this one to Hawks' "Bringing Up Baby" and "Ball of Fire" to see how far from the target Stevens was hitting. Frank Capra's too, are much better than this one.

2 hours is way too long for this film. The theme of idealism vs practicality, theoretical knowledge vs first-hand experience, and taking the justice into one's own hands vs trusting a dubious justice system, however high-minded, just don't win our complete attention. Colman's role is too stiff and apathetic, and it doesn't play well against Grants's excess of extroversion. Jean Arthur does all she can to make the thing funny but there's just not enough juice in this orange. It feels like she overacts sometimes. (Can't help comparing her to Hepburn's better role in "Bringing Up Baby").

Good entertainment, but a little disappoining.

3 out of 5 stars 3 great actors & a great director sometimes only equals an ok movie.......2006-05-05

its always nice to realize that even at my advanced age there are still cary grant movies i havent seen. the problem here is that he is the distinctly less interesting male in the riomantic triangle with jean arthur and ronald colman. matter of fact, the most interesting relationship is between grant and colman, but being that it IS cary grant after all, he has to get the girl. the politics also beg the question quite a bit, as the movie never seems to want to make up its mind. still, worth watching for the 3 terrific leads as well as a great supporting turn from edgar "uncle joe" buchanan.

4 out of 5 stars Innocence revealed, though it's a struggle all the way.......2006-03-04


Cary Grant, convicted of arson/murder at a factory, escapes from death row and holes up at the house of old flame Jean Arthur (she believes he's innocent). Also staying at the house for the summer is famed law school dean and Supreme Court appointee Ronald Coleman. Coleman is all prim and proper law-by-the-books, facts only, and Grant and Arthur try to get him to help out Grant's case. There are some good sparring scenes between Grant and Coleman: fire vs. ice (Irwin Shaw worked on the script and it shows), and both, of course, are in love with Arthur. Coleman, about to turn Grant in on principles, changes his mind and helps find the real arsonist/killer.

Coleman has always been a somewhat stiff, stagey actor, but at least here the role fits him. Arthur is a bit too squeaky (that voice of hers), but Grant is by far the best thing the movie has to offer. The plot is not very believable, and the ending gets preachy about law in America, the corrupt system, un-blind justice, etc., etc. But the movie is watchable throughout, and the script is a good one. In a somewhat unusual set of circumstances, two endings were shot and preview audiences got to choose the one they liked best: they liked Grant winning Arthur rather than Coleman - and Hooray! for that!

4 out of 5 stars Enjoyable!.......2005-10-08

I like to watch Cary Grant movies and The Talk Of The Town may not be his best movie but it is good and enjoyable! Cary Grant is very good and so are Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur!

5 out of 5 stars A great social-statement comedy...........2005-09-28

from an era when they used to make those types of movies. Very much in the mold of Capra, but way better because it really doesn't take itself altogether serious. (In fact, there were two endings...the ending is unimportant -- how you get there is!)
The Talk of the Town [Region 2]
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Entertaining classic with starred cast
  • 3 great actors & a great director sometimes only equals an ok movie
  • Innocence revealed, though it's a struggle all the way
  • Enjoyable!
  • A great social-statement comedy....
The Talk of the Town [Region 2]
Starring: Cary Grant , Jean Arthur , Ronald Colman , Edgar Buchanan , and Glenda Farrell
Director: George Stevens
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

GeneralGeneral | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
Arthur, JeanArthur, Jean | ( A ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Beddoe, DonBeddoe, Don | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Bridges, LloydBridges, Lloyd | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Buchanan, EdgarBuchanan, Edgar | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Colman, RonaldColman, Ronald | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Farrell, GlendaFarrell, Glenda | ( F ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Grant, CaryGrant, Cary | ( G ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Ingram, RexIngram, Rex | ( I ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Kinskey, LeonidKinskey, Leonid | ( K ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Tyler, TomTyler, Tom | ( T ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Walker, RobertWalker, Robert | ( W ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Stevens, GeorgeStevens, George | ( S ) | Directors | Stores | DVD | Video
( T )( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000085RPY

Amazon.com essential video

The screwball comedy was the definitive genre of the Depression, but as America edged toward war in the early '40s, it suffered some strange and wonderful mutations--none stranger than The Talk of the Town, directed by George Stevens from a script by novelist Irwin Shaw and frequent Capra collaborator (and future blacklist victim) Sidney Buchman. Cary Grant, awkwardly cast, is a small-town political agitator who is framed for the burning of a local factory; he takes refuge in the attic of a country cottage that landlady Jean Arthur is preparing to rent out to a celebrated law professor (silver-tongued Ronald Colman, perhaps the only actor in Hollywood who could make Grant look like a proletarian). Stevens, suspended between his light '30s style (Swing Time) and his heavy postwar manner (A Place in the Sun), struggles to balance a charming, surprisingly suspenseful romantic triangle with the heavy, debating-society tone of the screenplay, which pits Grant, the representative of a compassionate, emotional sense of justice, against the cool, abstract application of the law advocated by Colman. Caught between these two highly verbal characters, Jean Arthur doesn't have much to do but be adorable and provide the occasional quizzical reaction shot--two things she does with exquisite skill. Stevens and Arthur teamed up again one year later for another strange-bedfellows farce, the marvelous The More the Merrier; in 1953 Arthur made her final film appearance in Stevens's Shane. --Dave Kehr

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Entertaining classic with starred cast.......2007-04-05


This George Stevens screwball comedy hasn't aged as one would have wished. It has an excellent cast. Cary Grant is in his best, Ronald Colman does his role fine, and Jean Arthur does her best. The first 3 minutes so many things happen, and so fast, that one expects to have a sure great time. But once the story gets going the scenes run repetitive and slower. The lines grow longer and become empty talk. A screwball comedy is not an easy thing to do, but you only have to compare this one to Hawks' "Bringing Up Baby" and "Ball of Fire" to see how far from the target Stevens was hitting. Frank Capra's too, are much better than this one.

2 hours is way too long for this film. The theme of idealism vs practicality, theoretical knowledge vs first-hand experience, and taking the justice into one's own hands vs trusting a dubious justice system, however high-minded, just don't win our complete attention. Colman's role is too stiff and apathetic, and it doesn't play well against Grants's excess of extroversion. Jean Arthur does all she can to make the thing funny but there's just not enough juice in this orange. It feels like she overacts sometimes. (Can't help comparing her to Hepburn's better role in "Bringing Up Baby").

Good entertainment, but a little disappoining.

3 out of 5 stars 3 great actors & a great director sometimes only equals an ok movie.......2006-05-05

its always nice to realize that even at my advanced age there are still cary grant movies i havent seen. the problem here is that he is the distinctly less interesting male in the riomantic triangle with jean arthur and ronald colman. matter of fact, the most interesting relationship is between grant and colman, but being that it IS cary grant after all, he has to get the girl. the politics also beg the question quite a bit, as the movie never seems to want to make up its mind. still, worth watching for the 3 terrific leads as well as a great supporting turn from edgar "uncle joe" buchanan.

4 out of 5 stars Innocence revealed, though it's a struggle all the way.......2006-03-04


Cary Grant, convicted of arson/murder at a factory, escapes from death row and holes up at the house of old flame Jean Arthur (she believes he's innocent). Also staying at the house for the summer is famed law school dean and Supreme Court appointee Ronald Coleman. Coleman is all prim and proper law-by-the-books, facts only, and Grant and Arthur try to get him to help out Grant's case. There are some good sparring scenes between Grant and Coleman: fire vs. ice (Irwin Shaw worked on the script and it shows), and both, of course, are in love with Arthur. Coleman, about to turn Grant in on principles, changes his mind and helps find the real arsonist/killer.

Coleman has always been a somewhat stiff, stagey actor, but at least here the role fits him. Arthur is a bit too squeaky (that voice of hers), but Grant is by far the best thing the movie has to offer. The plot is not very believable, and the ending gets preachy about law in America, the corrupt system, un-blind justice, etc., etc. But the movie is watchable throughout, and the script is a good one. In a somewhat unusual set of circumstances, two endings were shot and preview audiences got to choose the one they liked best: they liked Grant winning Arthur rather than Coleman - and Hooray! for that!

4 out of 5 stars Enjoyable!.......2005-10-08

I like to watch Cary Grant movies and The Talk Of The Town may not be his best movie but it is good and enjoyable! Cary Grant is very good and so are Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur!

5 out of 5 stars A great social-statement comedy...........2005-09-28

from an era when they used to make those types of movies. Very much in the mold of Capra, but way better because it really doesn't take itself altogether serious. (In fact, there were two endings...the ending is unimportant -- how you get there is!)
Talk of the Town [Region 2]
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Talk of the Town [Region 2]

    ProductGroup: DVD
    Binding: DVD

    GermanGerman | By Original Language | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video
    GeneralGeneral | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
    ( T )( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
    GermanGerman | By Original Language | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
    ASIN: B00005MPOD
    Bob Stewart - Talk of the Town - The Great American Song Book
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Bob Stewart - Talk of the Town - The Great American Song Book
      Starring: Bob Stewart ; The Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra ; The Tedd Firth Trio; The Bob Thoesen Orchestra: The Frank Wess Quartet
      Director: Dan Garcia
      Manufacturer: Kevin Prendergast Studio
      ProductGroup: DVD
      Binding: DVD

      GeneralGeneral | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video
      Independently DistributedIndependently Distributed | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video
      GeneralGeneral | Jazz | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video
      Independently DistributedIndependently Distributed | Other Music | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video
      ( B )( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
      Music Video & ConcertsMusic Video & Concerts | Independently Distributed | Stores | DVD | Video
      Independently DistributedIndependently Distributed | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video
      ASIN: B0009H72Z0
      Release Date: 2005-04-19

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