"I grow on people......like moss...."

Usually romcoms END with a madcap rush to the wedding chapel. The Palm Beach Story STARTS there then jumps ahead a few years to the make-or-break portion of the marriage. The superlative Claudette Colbert decides she has to leave her husband (Joel McCrea), whose ego is easily bruised, because she's a drain on his finances and the reason they can't make ends meet. She sets off on a journey, he'll try to follow, and hopefully they'll fall back in love by the end. Part of the absurdity is that every millionaire she meets wants to give her money (and there are a lot of them), like it's her superpower, and the first act is a bit haphazard in terms of plot before we get to the heart of it. The two leads are really the only two normal people in the piece. They're surrounded by comedy characters, some of which you'll find funny, others not (I think the movie is entirely too convinced Toto the Lothario from a vague country is hilarious, but he's not), and the quick 40s comedy patter is off the charts. Harmless fun, and that ridiculous ending had me slapping my knee until it bruised, with a loud "sure, why not!".

The sardonic wit of Preston Sturges is omnipresent in this superb screwball comedy. It vividly recreates a madcap world where sanity is the exception and where the central couple strives to reach a balance by redefining their relationship. Sturges cleverly de-constructs the genre conventions and undermines viewer's expectations, while at the same time creates brilliantly timed sequences like the one at the end where the moving ballad sung by one suitor leads to the unlikely reconciliation.