August 31st, 2010 
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Description
Cary Grant is hilarious as a successful New York advertising executive who wants to escape the confines of his family’s tiny midtown apartment. So he designs his dream home in the suburbs and discovers the project wasn’t as easy as it seemed. The house gets larger. The bills get bigger. The problems just won’t go away. Eventually, the whole affair becomes a nightmare-a very funny nightmare-that left audiences laughing in 1948 and will have you in stitches, too. This i… More >>
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
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Look at it right side up, turned upside down, from the left side, from the right, or from the backside Ñ it will not matter! This film is irredeemably awful.
Rating: 1 / 5
Lame and Dul
Rating: 1 / 5
Take a thin book to start, add two world class talents mix in a screewriter and director who clearly never built a house and you get this mess. The book was amusing and wry but the movie could never figure out what it wanted to be. The screenwriter’s additions just made no sense; Bill Cole the lawyer as a love interest, (unbelieveable next to Cary Grant), a struggle to meet an ad deadline (with a racist ending that’s painful to watch in the 21st century.) All these point to a group of people who didn’t believe that the core story had legs, and went on to embelish it with distractions. If there was ever a movie designed by committee this was it.
Rating: 2 / 5
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House was a witty, satirical ride that nearly gives us a better viewing than the infamous Money Pit, if it wasn’t for that racist ending. I know several of you will claim that the ending (without trying to give it away) was genuine for its time, and I understand that claim, but under today’s standards this ending was extremely racist and should have been considered racist for the time of its release. After witnessing this monumental ending, my jaw was on the ground. I could not believe that I just finished a humorous Cary Grant film that promoted such a horrid ending. I realize that I am going to be in the minority on this review, but I just couldn’t fathom such an ending, and it really bothered me. Outside of the ending, this film reminded me of that Saturday Night Live skit in which Will Ferrell and his family are sitting around the table talking about their day. Out of the thousands it remains in my mind because Farrell classically gave some of his best lines ever. The family would begin to argue and Farrell would just randomly yell out, “I drive a Dodge Stratus, people fear me!” It was hysterical in a waspy sort of way, and that was exactly what Grant brought to the table in this film. With a charming story, simple characters, and a somewhat underdeveloped plot, Mr. Blandings becomes part comedy part disappointment.
This film wasn’t the greatest to showcase Grant’s talent, but it did a decent job of telling a story and providing the viewer with some comedic entertainment. For me, it was watching Grant and his family interact together. The waspiness of their family structure was hysterical. I loved the way that each one of them, from the children to the wife, chiseled away at each other. If you watch this film from beginning to end you will see that there isn’t much “love” demonstrated in this family, instead it is prissy children denouncing their father’s career and a wife who seems to want more than they can afford. In the end, you feel sorry for Grant because he is only trying to give his family the American dream, even if it takes away every penny he owns. Sadly, this is a Hollywood movie, so we never see him paying bills or worrying about money, instead we only see smiling faces as debt continues to pile further and further up. Grant was perfect in his role. It was a much quieter role for him than what we have seen in the past, but it worked. Grant’s comedic timing was impeccable. He captured the screen and never let go; I only wish I could say that about the rest of his cast. I just didn’t feel that anyone else was really contributing to the cause. They were playing their part, just not pushing the envelope. Grant overshadowed the rest of his cast and it became less of an ensemble piece and more of another Cary Grant movie. Sad, but in the same sense, it worked.
If you have seen the film The Money Pit, than you have seen the outcome of this film. The two are nearly identical sisters in the cinematic world. Each stand on their own, giving something fresh to the Hollywood community, but I think Mr. Blandings steps ahead by just a photo finish. There is something unique about this film, which I attribute to the other going-ons around the Blandings’ world outside of this house renovation. There is Mr. Blandings being the ultimate procrastinator, Mrs. Blandings proving that she is not having an affair with Mr. Blandings’ best friend, and Gussie, trying to keep the entire family together with her racially award winning final dialogue. It is fun to keep up with everything, but ultimately it just doesn’t resolve itself. I like all the obstacles that this family had to endure, but I never felt as if they had a complete ending. The final moments of this film wrapped up one portion of this story, but failed miserably with the other loose ends. We needed a more climactic ending, when instead we were left with nothing more than Hollywood hogwash … smiling faces coupled with sunny skies. I felt like asking that eternal question at the end of this film that was so notorious in the film Pleasantville, “What’s outside of Pleasantville?” It would have fit perfectly.
Finally, I would like to say that what could have saved this film were moments that could transcend time. This should have been a milestone classic, the story of the American family going from their comfortable dwellings in the city straight to their freedom in the country, but instead the director, H.C. Potter, went with some dated themes that will always keep this film leveled in the 1940s. The ending particularly will not brood well with today’s standards, but the monetary moments in this film should have been left out. It would have built for a stronger story. I had trouble believing that a man making only $15,000 a year could afford all their spending. If Potter would have just left their financial stability out of this picture, maybe I would have felt less connected to Grant’s character, but I would have felt that the story worked better. I just couldn’t understand why Grant was spending, spending, spending.
Overall, it was a good film, just not one that would have a lasting impression on my mind. Grand did a great job, but was overshadowed by a feeble plot and racism. I loved the waspy nature of the family, but the dynamics were never solidified. I didn’t see this family actually living together, just pegs in the Hollywood American family used to keep the plot in motion. Good, but not great.
Grade: *** out of *****
Rating: 3 / 5
Although this movie starts out a bit dull (due to actors’ lack of comedic timing or poor direction?), it winds up being pretty funny. Stereotypical by today’s standards, it’s hard to overlook the full-time maid and stay at home wife of a family who has financial challenges. The script and acting abilities, though, saved the film from total hopelessness.
Rating: 3 / 5