Love Crazy

A man (William Powell) feigns insanity in order to postpone his wife’s (Myrna Loy) petition for divorce after a disastrous forth anniversary.

Love Crazy is a disappointing, overlong mish-mash that wastes the talents of its two lead, William Powell and Myrna Loy.

The film starts as a light romantic comedy, before degrading into screwball humor with some poor physical gags, only to segue into a pseudo drama before veering back into screwball territory. The script, credited to three writers, is neither witty, nor tight enough to make this work, and were it not for the presence of Powell, the film would be complete disaster.

The biggest strength of Powell and Loy together is their chemistry, yet for much of Love Crazy, they’re apart. Compounding this misstep, director Jack Conway drags lets all of Powell’s screwball gags drag on for far too long. Comedy is all about timing and the “less is more” adage seems to be lost on Conway. This is a film with about forty-five minutes worth of material stretched to fill ninety-nine. Not even a finale featuring a moustache-less Powell in drag can save it.

That said, Powell and Loy fans might still be tempted to give it a look, if only to see the aforementioned moustache-less Powell in drag. Just don’t say you weren’t warned.