Naughty Girl (1956)
6/10
Very enjoyable but also a bit goofy--and not in a good way.
15 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This is a nice romantic comedy starring Brigitte Bardot. She did a great job and was simply gorgeous. However, it is far from a great film--and one for which you have to make some allowances due to poor direction and an occasionally goofy script.

Brigitte plays a lady in her early twenties whose father is in involved with shady illegal business. However, she is oblivious and thinks he's rich from a legitimate shipping business. When the father gets in trouble with the law, he asks his friend Clery to the small college where Brigitte is enrolled and bring her to him in Switzerland. The father figures that if the girl isn't brought to him quickly, the police will take her in custody and try to use her as leverage. In fact, shortly after Clery arrives, the police DO show up as well and the two barely make their escape.

The rest of the film concerns Clery and Brigette hiding out from the law. And how did he get the girl to agree to hide? He told her that her father is being pursued by spied who are dressed like policemen! But having this radiant young woman with him causes a lot of problems--with Clery's fiancée, because Brigitte is a bit of a klutz and problems follow her and because the police are bound to show up sooner or later.

This film has many enjoyable and cute moments. Brigitte is simply wonderful and it's hard to dislike her--even when she manages to burn down Clery's apartment! She's just so cute and sweet and likable. This is THE reason I liked the film. Plus, SOME of the plot is very good. But, sadly, the film also has a lot of problems. The biggest one is that the film plays, at times, like a Three Stooges film--with 'funny' sound effects and the worst over-acting I have ever seen Mischa Auer do (it was simply embarrassing). A romantic comedy should be funny, but not like this! In addition, there seemed to be a lot of padding--singing and dancing that often distract from the nice relationship that was blooming between Brigitte and Clery--it was very sweet. As a result, it's very watchable but you can't help thinking that it could have been better if the director hadn't been an idiot and had exercised some restraint.
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