You Can't Take It with You
The first ten minutes had me braced for the worst kind of Capra-corn: all platitudes, no pulse. You Can’t Take It With You starts chatty and stagey, like someone filmed the dress rehearsal of a very pleased-with-itself play. Eccentric Vanderhof household on one side, uptight Kirby business dynasty on the other – you can see the shape of it a mile off.
Once it actually gets moving, though, Frank Capra finds his groove. The fireworks-in-the-basement chaos, the mass arrest, the jailhouse pile-up of oddballs and snobs – that’s where it comes alive. James Stewart and Jean Arthur make the cross-class romance feel surprisingly sincere, and Lionel Barrymore’s twinkly old refusenik is hard to resist, even when the speechifying kicks in.
It’s still corny, naïve and on-the-nose about money and happiness, and it runs a bit long for what it’s saying. But it’s warmer and less predictable than it first threatens to be. Pretty decent little number in the end.
Once it actually gets moving, though, Frank Capra finds his groove. The fireworks-in-the-basement chaos, the mass arrest, the jailhouse pile-up of oddballs and snobs – that’s where it comes alive. James Stewart and Jean Arthur make the cross-class romance feel surprisingly sincere, and Lionel Barrymore’s twinkly old refusenik is hard to resist, even when the speechifying kicks in.
It’s still corny, naïve and on-the-nose about money and happiness, and it runs a bit long for what it’s saying. But it’s warmer and less predictable than it first threatens to be. Pretty decent little number in the end.
Mini Review: The first ten minutes had me braced for peak Capra-corn, all platitudes and no pulse. But once You Can’t Take It With You gets past its chatty, stagey start, Capra finds his groove: fireworks in the basement, a mass arrest, a packed jailhouse and a genuinely sweet Stewart–Arthur romance. Still corny and on-the-nose about money and happiness, but a pretty decent little number in the end.
Watch the Trailer