HotToastyRag
Only in the 1950s could a movie like Dream Wife be made! Cary Grant is engaged to strong, career-woman Deborah Kerr, but he expresses his desire for a more meek, stereotypically feminine companion. He breaks off the engagement and decides to marry Betta St. John instead. However, since Betta is a real princess, the State Department assigns Deborah to act as official chaperone between the two until the wedding!While the plot is pretty thin, the best part of this film is the banter between Cary and Deborah. They have fantastic comic timing together, and they reprised their pairing later in An Affair to Remember and The Grass is Greener. One of my all-time favorite lines comes from this film: the pair is arguing about all the things they hated about each other when they were a couple, complaints they're now allowed to voice since they're not on good behavior anymore. Cary says he always hated Deborah's perfume. "My perfume? But you always used to ask me to put it on!" Deborah exclaims. He replies, "You always wore it! What was I supposed to do, ask you to take it off?" If you're laughing, rent the hilarious The Grass is Greener. Dream Wife has a few funny lines, but it probably won't end up being your favorite old movie.
franco46
I gave it a "2" by virtue of it being a Cary Grant movie. Otherwise, I would have given it a "1" with a wink because it is so bad that it is good, which is the very definition of camp. There are those kind of days when a movie this awful seems just right, especially if you need something to do in order to take your mind off of anything really important in your life.I will not recap this silly piece of '50's fluff. You must watch it for yourself, but please don't blame me if you want the 100 minutes of your life back. I did warn you. Nevertheless, in my opinion, Cary Grant in anything trumps an incredible percentage of movies being made these days. One must still wonder what Cary was thinking when he agreed to appear in this mess of a movie. It would be hard to believe that he needed the money, but, who knows? I suspect that it tanked at the box office and if I wasn't too cheap to buy a premium subscription to IMDb, I could find out.Perhaps in retrospect Cary Grant, himself, provides us with the ultimate review of his movie, as he decided to retire from film-making immediately after making it.
utgard14
American businessman Cary Grant is engaged to diplomat Deborah Kerr but grows tired of her putting her career before their relationship. So he breaks things off and becomes engaged to a Middle-Eastern princess (Betta St. John) who has been taught from birth "how to make a man happy." But the customs of her people (and Kerr's interference) ensure that Grant won't find any happiness with her.Inane romantic comedy that is neither romantic nor funny. A terrible movie on nearly every level. The characters are very unlikable no matter how hard I tried due to my fondness for the actors. The best thing I can say about this is that I liked the name of Cary's character, Clemson Reade. Cary Grant didn't make many stinkers but he did here. It's one of the worst films in his career. It was so bad Cary considered retiring from acting after this and didn't make another movie for two years. Worth seeing if you're a die-hard fan of the stars or on the slim chance you might find something interesting about the socio-political stuff.
Jonathan Doron
Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr are a wonderful couple. Throwing each other line after line with Grant's usual and very his -facial expressions. The dinner scene between the two in the beginning is a blast. The whole beginning is great, funny, very promising, but it's obvious where it's going plot-wise, and with the plot the movie flops. The funny scenes become scarce, predictable and I just waited for it to end. Walter Pidgeon must be one of the best supporting actors ever. Catch the first 30 minutes or so than stop watching, or just pass. Nice idea that went wrong.PS How that "Dream wife" of his learns English so quickly is absolutely amazing! She does speak with a few mistakes, of course.
AD
