So whenever I write a review of a William Powell and Myrna Loy film I am forever going on about Myrna Loy and how amazing she was and usually just write a few lines about William Powell. I love Powell he’s hilarious he was an amazing actor and one of the only classic actors I can never get sick of watching. Love Crazy, one of the many Powell and Loy pairings, truly belongs to Powell. From beginning to end all you can do is laugh at him.
Steve and Susan Ireland (Powell and Loy) are celebrating their fourth wedding anniversary. Every year since they have been married they always reenact their first date on their anniversary. However on this anniversary things do not go according to plan. Susan’s mother comes by and trips and hurts herself. Susan has to go pick up her aunt at the train station since her mother cannot leaving Steve alone with her. Steve cannot bare to be with his mother – in- law alone so he goes down to stay with a former girlfriend who happens to be living on the floor below him.
Susan comes home and the situation is not good. She believes Steve has cheated on her and immediately seeks out a divorce. Nothing did happen between Steve and his former girlfriend but Susan will not believe him. All he wants is Susan he truly loves her. He finds out that in order to stay married to his wife he can claim insanity and she can do nothing to divorce him he would have to be in her custody.
After Steve finds out he can claim insanity and stay with Susan the film takes off from here. Everything is pretty much a huge misunderstanding. Steve really is love crazy he just wants to be with Susan. Of course by the end the couple does wind up back together.
William Powell is a riot. He does so much physical comedy and looked like he had a blast doing all the scenes. If you read a review of Love Crazy anywhere you will read about the end where Powell dresses in drag. The scene is almost embarrassing to watch it is so hilarious and perfectly done. This scene is what makes the film his film. In order to get back into his apartment unnoticed he dresses up like a woman even going so far as to shave off his mustache!! He has got a really bad old lady wig on and a frumpy dress with the back tucked into his underpants! Steve somehow manages to fool everyone around him into thinking he is his own sister. Possibly the best part of the scene is when the yarn that was supposed to be one of his top assets gets caught on a record player and unwinds.
I love the ending to this film. Susan is so taken with Steve for dressing up like a woman to get back to her and the fact that he did not do anything wrong they go into the bedroom. The phone rings and all we see is their hands reaching for the phone. Good lord how your imagination just runs!!
Myrna Loy was as always wonderful but her character drove me up a wall a bit and I kind of wanted to smack Susan. She was a too stubborn for me. Florence Bates plays Susan’s mother. The only other role I know her from is Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca and all I could see the woman as is Mrs. Van Hopper. I found the mother almost as annoying as Mrs. Van Hopper. I really did not even like the character which I guess is the point but knowing her from Rebecca and not standing her from that at all made the character worse for me. Gail Patrick play’s Steve’s former girlfriend. I have seen her in Stage Door with Ginger Rogers and Katharine Hepburn and she was pretty good. She has that face that you would not trust and here you definitely do not trust her character at all.
Love Crazy is a must see for any William Powell and Myrna Loy fan. The script is not that great but the acting as always with these two is incredible. You will also probably never read a review where the chemistry between Powell and Loy is not mentioned. I have no choice but to mention their chemistry here it was incredible and I really mean it. In the first few minutes they are hugging and kissing and being really sweet. It is hard to describe unless you see it but it is not hard to imagine that fans really thought Powell and Loy were married in real life. You can just see they were great friends outside of their films and just enjoyed working together. You will never ever find chemistry between actors like theirs ever again.
There are many fantastic screwball moments that make Love Crazy worth watching. Many moments are guaranteed to make you laugh till your stomach hurts and your eyes tear.
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