You Can't Take It with You

I knew nothing about this going in, other than it being on our Best Picture watch list. Didn't know who was in it, didn't know who directed it. The fact I hadn't heard of it at all had me concerned. There's been some gems in the more obscure Best Picture winners (Gentleman's Agreement, The Best Years Of Our Lives) but there's been just as many duds. Then I saw Jimmy Stewart was in this. And Frank Capra directed it. Before this, I'd seen four Capra movies; two of them got 3 1/2 stars and the other two got a full five. That's a fantastic batting average. You Can't Take It With You is built around the romance between Jean Arthur (Alice) and Stewart (Tony). Alice and Tony come from opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum; Alice is working class, Tony is the son of a wealthy and avaricious banker. Moreover, Tony's dad is trying to secure a section of town as part of a proposed corporate merger, and Alice's family's house is in that property, and the patriarch (Grandpa) is refusing to sell. But Alice and Tony are looking to get married, which will force these families to reckon with one another, and it's there that YCTIWY builds out, with Tony's father only living for the accumulation of an empire and his mother being a stuck-up socialite, while Alice's family is a cast of characters for whom the word "Bohemian" doesn't quite do them justice. They live for the pursuit of happiness; Alice's sister is constantly practicing ballet, even while setting the table, and her husband plays a xylophone for accompaniment. Alice's mom is an aspiring playwright who only became one because a typewriter was mistakenly delivered to the house, while her dad makes fireworks in the basement. "How will these cultures interact and impact one another?" is the central conflict of the movie, and if you've seen a Capra movie before, you know the answer. Capra had his signature, which was a charming optimism and syrupy sentimentality that could, to a more hardened, cynical eye, come off as glib or naive. But Capra wasn't either of those; he saw the dark side and he acknowledged it. His movies were about celebrating the possibilities life had to offer. The optimism of his movies is aspirational, what the human race could be if we just tried a little more. Yes, his protagonists have super-glued their hearts to their sleeves, but they and Capra do so earnestly and honestly. This is embodied in Grandpa and what has led him to live life how he does; he was once a banker, and he hated it, and one day, he just took the elevator down, left the building, and never came back. He knows what the other side has to offer, and he's choosing his own path. Does Capra boil this down to its base level and present this in unrealistic terms? Yes, it's hard to deny this is anything more than a fairy tale world. Questions like "how does Alice's family buy groceries and pay for utilities?" aren't answered, or even broached, but they're not omitted by oversight. Those questions just don't matter to the story. It's about one family who enjoys their lives and one where everybody should because of everything they have but everybody is secretly miserable. You don't need to get into the logic weeds for that. It's all about vibes, and YCTIWY has that in spades. The cast here are all working overtime to make this thing come together. Out in the lead are Stewart and Arthur, who are just so damned cute as a couple who've just gotten engaged and are swept up in the romance of it all. As I write this, I'm approaching my 23rd wedding anniversary, so the heady, there's-no-one-else-in-the-world-but-us romance feelings are long behind me, but watching Stewart and Arthur lay across a desk, holding hands and staring at each other, I felt those years melt away and that kind of red-hot, youthful love come rushing back. Lionel Barrymore plays Alice's grandpa, and you'll spend the first few scenes with him waiting for the twist, but I'm here to tell you it never comes. What you see with him is exactly what you get. Meanwhile, you get the opposite with Edward Arnold playing Tony's dad Anthony, a blustering, pompous Alexander the Great wannabe who can't conceive of anything beyond conquering lands and has lost touch with what makes him happy. There are a ton of supporting characters adding flavor, but those are the most important quartet, and they're a joy to watch. If there's a flaw to be had with YCTIWY, it's the first half hour or so, as the movie is finding its sea legs. It isn't obvious at first how this diverse cast of characters relate to one another, and for a while, the movie feels a little aimless. It's certainly not a deal-breaker, but you might spend the first half hour or so feeling like the conductor of this train has done the safety check half a dozen times and is stubbornly refusing to get underway. Don't worry, once the train gets moving, it all comes together. YCTIWY has fallen into relative obscurity compared to both other Best Picture winners and within Capra's own filmography, and after seeing it, I don't understand why. This was a delight that left me with a warmed heart and lightened soul. Could its "embrace what makes you happy" message be seen as simplistic and flippant? Sure, we can't spend every waking moment in the pursuit of what pleases us; that way lies hedonism, which is not what Capra is saying here. But the other way to live is hollow and unfulfilling for the soul. Don't worry about the empire you want to build for the world, worry about the legacy you leave with your loved ones, he says. Take time to not just enjoy life, but pursue the whims and dreams that exist on the margins, even if it dead-ends. It's all about the journey and what you do on it, this movie says, because we're all headed towards the same destination, so actually try to enjoy the journey.