Critic's Choice
by Don Weis
(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bob Hope, Jessie Royce Landis, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Maxwell, Rip TornDirector: Don Weis
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Charles Lang
Editor: William H. Ziegler
Producer: Frank P. Rosenberg
Writer: Ira Levin
Writer: Jack Sher
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-06-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Critic's Choice
Movie Review: Ball and Hope star in a "Choice" comedy romp
Summary: 4 Stars
Based on Ira Levin's hit Broadway play, CRITIC'S CHOICE (1963) marked the final screen pairing for the beloved comedy duo Bob Hope and Lucille Ball; and I think it's the perfect last fling.
Parker Ballantine (Bob Hope) is New York's most feared and revered theatre critic. One stroke of his pen can cause a show to post closing notices, and he's even been responsible for putting his actress ex-wife Ivy (Marilyn Maxwell) out of work on several occasions! When his second wife Angela (Lucille Ball) decides to write a play based on her colourful mother, Parker experiences every critic's worst nightmare: how on earth will he manage to stay neutral and honestly review the play just as he would any other? And how will Angie react if he pans the entire affair?! Angie's Broadway bow might just end in the divorce court in this snappy backstage comedy.
Rumoured to be loosely based on Walter and Jean Kerr, CRITIC'S CHOICE is filled with choice (no pun intended) comedy moments for each star to shine. Jessie Royce Landis co-stars as Ball's mother, with Rip Torn, Marie Windsor, Joan Shawlee, Jim Backus and Ricky Kelman.
The DVD includes the 1935 VitaPhone short "Calling All Tars" with Bob Hope, plus a Looney Tunes cartoon ("Now Hear This") and the trailer. Also available in the Lucille Ball Film Collection (Dance Girl Dance / The Big Street / Du Barry Was a Lady / Critic's Choice / Mame).
Summary of Critic's Choice
1963 comedy pairing Lucille Ball and Bob Hope. Broadway fans will enjoy the inside jokes of this movie based on a play by Ira Levin. Ball is a young playwright while Hope is her husband - and a drama critic.With a light touch of New York sophistication, Critic's Choice is a smartly grown-up vehicle for Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, making their fourth appearance as an on-screen duo. Adapted from the Broadway play by Ira Levin, it's a fitting follow-up to the pair's previous comedy (1960's The Facts of Life), with its upscale story about top-ranking theater critic Parker Ballantine (Hope) and the trouble he gets into when his second wife Angela (Ball) decides to write a play. Given Parker's snobbishly influential reputation for writing scathingly negative reviews, it's only a matter of time before he's forced to confront the issue of reviewing "Sisters Three," the comedy that Angela has written, rewritten and polished with the help (and romantic advances) of Dion Kapakos (Rip Torn), one of Broadway's hottest young playwrights. Complicating matters even further is Parker's touch-and-go friendship with his ex-wife (Marilyn Maxwell) and the disapproval of his young, intelligent son John (Ricky Kelman), who serves as his father's much-needed voice of conscience. Add it all up and Critic's Choice is an easygoing comedy that occasionally falls flat (veteran TV director Don Weis can't decide if he's directing an all-out comedy or a marital melodrama), but Bob & Lucy make it surprisingly enjoyable, and Levin's source material has a lot to say about marriage, divorce, and the foibles of playwrights and critics in the high-pressure world of New York theater. It's also interesting to see Rip Torn so early in his long-running career, and the fine supporting cast includes such '60s stalwarts as Jim Backus, Richard Deacon, and John Dehner. Also available in The Lucille Ball Film Collection, this DVD includes two noteworthy short subjects from the Warner Bros. archives: "Calling All Tars" is a 19-minute Vitaphone comedy short from 1936, starring Bob Hope in one of his earliest screen appearances, and "Now Hear This" is an Oscar-nominated "Looney Tunes" cartoon from 1962, directed by the great Chuck Jones in the kind of innovative, abstract design style that was in vogue among animators in the early 1960s. --Jeff Shannon
Comedy DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in Comedy DVD Video
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-09-30; DVD
Best price: $9.48
Price in other shops:
SpaceballsMGM HOME VIDEO (UNDER FOX); Release date: 2000-04-25; DVD
Best price: $3.42
Price in other shops:
The Ugly Truth (Widescreen Edition)SONY PICTURES HOME ENT; Release date: 2009-11-10; DVD
Best price: $13.49
Price in other shops:
Monsters vs. AliensPARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-09-29; DVD
Best price: $11.39
Price in other shops:
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Its A Very Sunny ChristmasTCFHE; Release date: 2009-11-17; DVD
Best price: $13.65
Price in other shops:
Blazing Saddles (30th Anniversary Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2004-06-29; DVD
Best price: $4.28
Price in other shops:
The Proposal (Single Disc Widescreen)BUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-10-13; DVD
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
![Cars [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Cars-Blu-ray-B000V1Y43W-X.jpg)
Cars [Blu-ray]Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2007-11-06; DVD
Best price: $12.39
Price in other shops:
Four ChristmasesNEW LINE HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-11-24; DVD
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
Julie & JuliaRelease date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Here's Lucy: Season TwoMPI; Release date: 2009-11-03; DVD
Best price: $15.93
Price in other shops:
The PalefaceUniversal Studios; Release date: 2002-03-05; DVD
Best price: $24.89
Casanova's Big NightParamount; Release date: 2005-09-06; DVD
Best price: $3.21
Price in other shops:
Lucille Ball Film Collection (Dance Girl Dance / The Big Street / Du Barry Was a Lady / Critic's Choice / Mame)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-06-19; DVD
Best price: $29.99
Price in other shops:
Sex and the Single GirlWarner Brothers; Release date: 2009-02-03; DVD
Best price: $4.30
Price in other shops:
Bob Hope Tribute Collection - Sorrowful Jones / The Paleface Double FeatureUniversal Studios; Release date: 2002-10-08; DVD
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops:
Forever DarlingWarner Brothers; Release date: 2006-05-02; DVD
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
The Ghost BreakersUniversal Studios; Release date: 2002-03-05; DVD
Best price: $7.55
Price in other shops:
Bob Hope MGM Movie Legends Collection (Alias Jesse James/ Boy, Did I Get the Wrong Number/ The Facts of Life/ I'll Take Sweden/ The Princess and the Pirate/ The Road to Hong Kong/ They've Got Me Covered)TCFHE/MGM; Release date: 2007-12-04; DVD
Best price: $21.94
Price in other shops:
Fancy PantsParamount; Release date: 2004-06-29; DVD
Best price: $4.73
Price in other shops: