Right after watching "Easy to Love" I went searching for the nearest Man in Black to have my memory erased. Then I thought, "First I must warn people," so I started angrily banging away on my keyboard just to let people know how abysmal this movie is.
The whole plot centers around adultery, which was a very common topic back then. There were always mistresses and lovers, especially among society folks. Even the most committed, monogamous, and dedicated married couples would fall victim to infidelity. "Easy to Love" decided to make it comedic.
Funny it was not.
Not only was this movie not funny, it simply wasn't good. John (Adolphe Menjou) was cheating on his wife, Carol (Genevieve Tobin), with Carol's best friend, Charlotte (Mary Astor). Meanwhile, John's best friend, Eric (Edward Everett Horton), was in love with his (John's) wife. Yeah, it sounds like a trashy soap opera or an episode of Jerry Springer.
John would hook up with Charlotte everyday; telling his wife he was playing polo. She got suspicious and hired a PI to tail him and see where he was really going. When she found out where he was going and who he was going to see, she decided to play a game instead of being an adult and confronting him with the information.
She pretended to be in love with Eric and, not so subtly, let it "slip" so that her husband would find out. It led to John hypocritically confronting Carol about the relationship that poor stupid Eric thought was real. The entire childish act went on until the inevitable end: they remained together and recommitted to one another.
I don't mind the overall message: couples should remain married. Hollywood has done that before. They did several movies reinforcing marriage over divorce even in the face of adultery. The problem is that most of them, if not all of them, treated the matter so trivially. The offended party would get upset, some type of rumblings would happen, then they'd stick together as if nothing ever happened; as if no trust was eroded.
Because "Easy to Love" was a comedy it really trivialized the adultery. John was lying to Carol DAILY and he was banging her best friend. Her idea of getting even was to make John jealous by claiming to be in a relationship with Eric. Not only was it a weak, feeble-minded attempt at revenge, it also clouded the issue. The issue was that John had a steady relationship with another woman and it was never addressed. She was too cowardly to address it, so she opted for some lame trick to bring it out into the open. Then, once the cat was out of the bag, she went on pretending to love Eric to keep the gag going instead of sitting down like adults and hashing it out.
John never apologized and he never explained himself. He and Carol simply complied with their daughter's wishes and remained together, presumably, eschewing the other would-be lovers in their life. To say the resolution was unsatisfying would be like saying that a thimble of water won't quench an elephant's thirst. But, unfortunately, this movie was in line with the sentiment at that time. Mistresses were expected, so long as they were kept hidden. John messed up by marrying a woman who still loved him and wanted his affection after nearly twenty years of marriage. Had she been a stale set piece, his inattention to her would've been ignored as well as his frequent games of "polo." But Carol still loved and adored him, so she was heartbroken to find out he was cheating. "Easy to Love" unequivocally failed to capture that heart break.
Carol was an anomaly. She was part of high society and she had been married many years, which means she should've expected her husband to have a mistress, and she should've had a lover of her own--or at least she should've chosen the willful ignorance route. The fact she didn't have a lover and she actually cared that her husband was cheating on her made her a rare breed, hence it made her a joke. It was laughable that such women like Carol existed which makes "Easy to Love" a sad movie.
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The whole plot centers around adultery, which was a very common topic back then. There were always mistresses and lovers, especially among society folks. Even the most committed, monogamous, and dedicated married couples would fall victim to infidelity. "Easy to Love" decided to make it comedic.
Funny it was not.
Not only was this movie not funny, it simply wasn't good. John (Adolphe Menjou) was cheating on his wife, Carol (Genevieve Tobin), with Carol's best friend, Charlotte (Mary Astor). Meanwhile, John's best friend, Eric (Edward Everett Horton), was in love with his (John's) wife. Yeah, it sounds like a trashy soap opera or an episode of Jerry Springer.
John would hook up with Charlotte everyday; telling his wife he was playing polo. She got suspicious and hired a PI to tail him and see where he was really going. When she found out where he was going and who he was going to see, she decided to play a game instead of being an adult and confronting him with the information.
She pretended to be in love with Eric and, not so subtly, let it "slip" so that her husband would find out. It led to John hypocritically confronting Carol about the relationship that poor stupid Eric thought was real. The entire childish act went on until the inevitable end: they remained together and recommitted to one another.
I don't mind the overall message: couples should remain married. Hollywood has done that before. They did several movies reinforcing marriage over divorce even in the face of adultery. The problem is that most of them, if not all of them, treated the matter so trivially. The offended party would get upset, some type of rumblings would happen, then they'd stick together as if nothing ever happened; as if no trust was eroded.
Because "Easy to Love" was a comedy it really trivialized the adultery. John was lying to Carol DAILY and he was banging her best friend. Her idea of getting even was to make John jealous by claiming to be in a relationship with Eric. Not only was it a weak, feeble-minded attempt at revenge, it also clouded the issue. The issue was that John had a steady relationship with another woman and it was never addressed. She was too cowardly to address it, so she opted for some lame trick to bring it out into the open. Then, once the cat was out of the bag, she went on pretending to love Eric to keep the gag going instead of sitting down like adults and hashing it out.
John never apologized and he never explained himself. He and Carol simply complied with their daughter's wishes and remained together, presumably, eschewing the other would-be lovers in their life. To say the resolution was unsatisfying would be like saying that a thimble of water won't quench an elephant's thirst. But, unfortunately, this movie was in line with the sentiment at that time. Mistresses were expected, so long as they were kept hidden. John messed up by marrying a woman who still loved him and wanted his affection after nearly twenty years of marriage. Had she been a stale set piece, his inattention to her would've been ignored as well as his frequent games of "polo." But Carol still loved and adored him, so she was heartbroken to find out he was cheating. "Easy to Love" unequivocally failed to capture that heart break.
Carol was an anomaly. She was part of high society and she had been married many years, which means she should've expected her husband to have a mistress, and she should've had a lover of her own--or at least she should've chosen the willful ignorance route. The fact she didn't have a lover and she actually cared that her husband was cheating on her made her a rare breed, hence it made her a joke. It was laughable that such women like Carol existed which makes "Easy to Love" a sad movie.
Free on Odnoklassniki.