Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage

Rating:
Summary: A critical appreciation of film's greatest romantic comedies
Review: Cavell identifies the "comedies of remarriage," those romantic comedies and comic romances that lit the screens and the hearts of the audiences of the 1930's and 40's. With the mind of a philosopher and scholar and the passionate appreciation of a true fan, he examines classic romantic comedies (and comic romances), including "The Lady Eve," "The Awful Truth," and "The Philadelphia Story." In a classical context (he compares the role of the woods in Shakespeare to the role of Connecticut in "Bringing Up Baby") he manages to illuminate the films without disturbing the gossamer that holds them together. The best that can be said is that he does justice to these lovely films, and makes us understand how smart we were to adore them

Rating:
Summary: A great book for lovers of classical American movies.
Review: The goal of this book is to show that the classic American film comedies of the 30's and 40's are worthy of the best criticism. The author succeeds. If you love movies, and want to think about them seriously, this is your book. The films in it star Hepburn, Grant, Tracy, Gable, Stanwyck. This is a sophisticated book for a sophisticated film audience. The author is one of America's leading philosophers. Cavell brings his knowledge of concepts of friendship, conversation, gender, parenting, sexuality, fun, and adventure to bear on each of the romantic comedies he discusses. The genre explored here continues in GROUNDHOG DAY, FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, ALL OF ME, JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO. This book is serious, and well worth it. It explores everything important to every romantic relationship. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: How bright I am
Review: This book is not for filmgoers. Its focus is geared to the elite and erudite college student who will be impressed by name dropping of prominent philosophers in Western Lit. To be polite, it is dripping in stream-of-consciousness commentary that wreaks of self-indulgence, suggesting adult attention deficit problems. It is not uncommon to find sentences in excess of 50 words long, that if grammatically diagrammed would make Watson and Crick's double helix look like a straight arrow. Save time and save money. The clip art of movie scenes is primitive and should have been a clue as to the author's intent. A great disappointment.