I grew up watching films from the 50s and 60s. Doris Day was always my favorite actress. And I love her other movie with James Garner: Move Over, Darling. But this movie is absolutely terrible. I would consider myself relatively conservative, but I don't know what else to call this movie other than patriarchal propaganda. Seriously.
Garner's character is so insecure that he can't handle his wife getting mildly famous. He doesn't support her making $80k+/year for leaving the house ONE. DAY. A. WEEK. They have a live in house keeper to help with the kids. But he resents that Doris Day is anything but a doctor's wife and contributes financially.
Their argument is really ugly, and he leaves the house and stays at a hotel because he's apparently a child. He's willing to leave his family because his wife wants to have a part time job? What the actual hell?
His solution (it's implied that the psychologist in the office next door has advised him in this)? Make her think he's having an affair so she'll get jealous and quit. And she never confronts him - it literally ends without being addressed.
Part of me hoped that this movie was really just satire, but I don't really see it. The jokes fall terribly flat, and several plot lines go completely unresolved. I am a stay at home mother who finds fulfillment in her family, and I still find this movie to be complete rubbish. If you want a good Doris Day movie, watch Send Me No Flowers, Lover Come Back, or That Touch of Mink.
Garner's character is so insecure that he can't handle his wife getting mildly famous. He doesn't support her making $80k+/year for leaving the house ONE. DAY. A. WEEK. They have a live in house keeper to help with the kids. But he resents that Doris Day is anything but a doctor's wife and contributes financially.
Their argument is really ugly, and he leaves the house and stays at a hotel because he's apparently a child. He's willing to leave his family because his wife wants to have a part time job? What the actual hell?
His solution (it's implied that the psychologist in the office next door has advised him in this)? Make her think he's having an affair so she'll get jealous and quit. And she never confronts him - it literally ends without being addressed.
Part of me hoped that this movie was really just satire, but I don't really see it. The jokes fall terribly flat, and several plot lines go completely unresolved. I am a stay at home mother who finds fulfillment in her family, and I still find this movie to be complete rubbish. If you want a good Doris Day movie, watch Send Me No Flowers, Lover Come Back, or That Touch of Mink.