The Time of Their Lives (1946)

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Siskoid
The Time of Their Lives is one of the few films where Abbott and Costello aren't partners, but rather separate characters, and I think it shows why that's not the preferred paradigm. Lou Costello, unmoored from the double-act routines, is grossly annoying and needs tempering that Marjorie Reynolds - his partner in the film - cannot provide, despite giving a good performance. He overplays everything and isn't funny; he just seems tonally out of phase (that's a little joke) with the rest of the film. What the film loses in comic chemistry, it makes up for with a solid story. Two people (Costello and Reynolds) are wrongly killed as traitors during the American Revolutionary War and cursed to be ghosts until they can prove their innocence. 170 years later, they get their chance, as does Abbott's character to atone for his ancestor's role in their deaths. It rolls along fairly well as a madcap supernatural comedy, and still surprises with the level of its practical and optical effects. But yeah, hopefully Costello's ghost will forgive me, but his persona doesn't quite work without his usual partner. 5 years 9 months ago
onuryz
very entertaining! 10 years 3 months ago