As much as I want to like anything Jean Arthur is in, I have to admit that "If You Could Only Cook" is a rather drab attempt at a screwball comedy.
Arthur and Herbert Marshall play an out-of-work girl and an auto executive, respectively, who pose as husband and wife in order to take a job as cook and butler in the home of a gangster (Leo Carillo). You might think this sets the stage for all manner of screwball antics, but no such antics ever really arise. The film treats the story lazily and perfunctorily. Arthur and Marshall of course fall in love, but more because the screenplay forces them to than because it seems natural for their characters. The two actors acquit themselves as well as they can, but the movie just sort of plods along around them.
Fans of either Arthur or Marshall will probably want to give this film a look, but don't expect a screwball classic.
Grade: B-
Arthur and Herbert Marshall play an out-of-work girl and an auto executive, respectively, who pose as husband and wife in order to take a job as cook and butler in the home of a gangster (Leo Carillo). You might think this sets the stage for all manner of screwball antics, but no such antics ever really arise. The film treats the story lazily and perfunctorily. Arthur and Marshall of course fall in love, but more because the screenplay forces them to than because it seems natural for their characters. The two actors acquit themselves as well as they can, but the movie just sort of plods along around them.
Fans of either Arthur or Marshall will probably want to give this film a look, but don't expect a screwball classic.
Grade: B-