'With Six You Get Eggroll' was yet another film as part of my Doris Day completest quest, being a fan and realising that there were still films of hers to see. Seeing it, with it being notable for being her swansong film, it is pleasant enough but one can see the reviews here are so mixed.
Day certainly made much better films, 'Calamity Jane' and 'Pillow Talk' especially. She also made far worse, some have often cited later efforts for understandable reasons (her best decade easily was the 50s) as among her worst, to me a few of her early films like 'Lucky Me' and 'Starlift' are also strong contenders. 'With Six You Get Eggroll' is somewhat of a middling film for her.
There are numerous strengths with 'With Six You Get Eggroll'. The music has quirky energy and is suitably understated when needed. Some of the dialogue is witty and sophisticated and there are some amusing, if never exactly hilarious, moments. Day driving off in the trailer leaving Brian Keith in his underwear on the road stands out.
Some of the story has an energetic bounce, and there are moments that really charm. Howard Morris directs competently. Most of the cast make the film and their material work. Day comes over as very natural and at ease, she has fun and radiates charm. Keith has lovely chemistry with her and is a likable leading man with a gift for gentle comic timing. Pat Carroll is great fun in support, and it was nice to see George Carlin and a young Barbara Herschey. One mustn't forget the personality-filled dog either.
However, the children are rather annoying (not the first time that's been the case in a Doris Day film), while the production values have a very low-budget feel and looks very made for TV. 'With Six You Get Eggroll' gets rather absurd towards the end and the final scene is a sea of messy chaos.
For all the fun, bouncy and charming parts of the story, there are also a few dull and tired moments that is suggestive of padding things out, and while the predictability is forgivable not so much is including very 60s elements like hippies and an appearance from The Greenshots that just date the film and a rather clumsy effort to make the film current of the time, inconsistent pacing, the messy final scenes and a sense that it would have fared better as an episode for a sit-com considering the relative thinness.
In conclusion, not awful, not great, somewhat mixed instead. 6/10 Bethany Cox
