The Grass Is Greener

source: The Grass Is Greener

Moviecut—The Grass Is Greener

The Grass Is Greener

Fine, funny and recommended. It has its weak points, the storyline is the least important with these fine actors and brilliant direction. Cary Grant and Jean Simmons' first scene together is absolutely wonderful. Deborah Kerr is also good; Robert Mitchum, maybe intentionally, is a bit of an odd player here. Familiar to the Grant-Ingrid Bergman split-screen telephone scene in Donen's Indiscreet, there's an adorable scene with all four leading actors here. Very very nice.

You would think that with this cast you would get a much better movie. Instead, the talents of four excellent actors are pretty much wasted in a tepid bedroom farce that is sure to please very few. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr play two English nobles who are forced to sell admission tickets to their estate to make ends meet. During one of these tour group visits, Robert Mitchem breaks away from the group and tries to put the moves on Ms. Kerr. And then, the three of them are soon joined by old friend Jean Simmons (not the guy from KISS, though THAT would have made the movie REALLY interesting). The four of them talk a lot about sex and swapping partners but never really get around to doing anything (some would say this is because they are English). Then, everyone goes their merry way and the movie concludes. Quick, get me the No-Doze!

This adult drawing room comedy is a bit of fluff. Light and inconsequential but funny. Deborah Kerr is excellent in her role as the bored and under appreciated wife of an English aristocrat, Cary Grant. They are struggling to keep the family estate intact by charging for guided tours. Can one really be bored with Cary Grant? Mitchum is the rich, virile American tourist who sweeps her off her feet. Jean Simmons plays the beautiful but rather ditsy friend of Kerr. Kerr tells her, "You can't play Scrabble, not with adults". The mink coat scene is worth watching as is the fishing scene. America versus England with a happy ending.

The cast is obviously the star of this film, with headliners Grant, Kerr, Mitchum and Simmons each doing a fabulous job in a movie that depends very heavily on intelligent, witty dialogue strewn with double-entendres. The subject is adultery, and whether one (Grant) should make a public fuss when his wife (Kerr) is being swept off her feet by a rich American (Mitchum). Mix in a beautiful, if somewhat dotty, friend (Simmons) who makes sly observances throughout. Although set in England of the late 50s, the film doesn't show much countryside and occasionally feels a bit claustrophobic as the action takes place on a very few sets. The film feels like it has stage origins, and it plays much like Neil Simon's better film adaptations (e.g. California Suite, Barefoot in the Park). If you are a fan of any of these stars, this movie will entertain you.

Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, and Jean Simmons in a comedy from Stanley Donen...and its a dud? English couple, having had to turn their estate into a tourist spot, have their marriage tested when the wife falls for an American millionaire. Extremely odd picture serves up infidelity as something chic, with the inevitable apologies all around at the end. Donen directs this play-into-film uninventively, with stagy action and camera set-ups. Kerr retains her dignity with a schizophrenic role (her cheating spouse remains saintly!), and Mitchum is droll, but Grant phones his performance in (it seems the older he got, the more he relied on his patented charm). Some cute lines are pretty much buried in the lightweight script; there's no depth to the emotions played out, and no truth in the characters. ** from ****

Enjoyable cast and often deliciously witty dialogue succeed enlivening this otherwise rather static comedy. It can't shake off its staginess, which results in occasional moments of slight weariness, but for the most part, "The Grass Is Greener" is classy and quite entertaining. There are some splendid scenes between the four leading actors that make you smile. Really big laughs aren't guaranteed, but the film leaves an overall good feeling.

Although I'm a film buff, I was unaware of the existence this delightful,sophisticated comedy until I saw it recently on TV in Buenos Aires, of all places. Grant, Kerr and Simmons are splendid, as usual, and Mitchum is, well, Mitchum and that's good enough for me. The plot offers the conceit of Mitchum taking Kerr away from Grant, her fusty husband, because Mitch is hot and Grant's not, a rather daring concept for 1960. Grant, of course, has a trick or two up his sleeve and alls well that ends well. The witty dialogue and snappy direction (Stanley Donen) puts to shame the witless, charmless crap churned out by Hollywood hacks for the past 25