I don't usually write reviews, although I do tend to read them. All I can say about this film is that there's a decent enough premise, and plenty of onscreen time for Powell and Loy, if that's what you want. But the whole thing is lacking in anything like focus, timing, plot progression, or even good gags. The director seems not to know what to do, but just stands back and lets the script do the work, which it doesn't. A Sturges might have been able to make something out of it, but it would have involved a huge rewrite. And may I blaspheme here and say that Powell and Loy are way off form, too. Neither manages to generate much sympathy for their characters. Loy is a cold stick, even at the end, and Powell's attempt at Bohemianism is unconvincing. Pacing is slow, dialog is redundant, and the tacked on slapstick at the end is strictly by the numbers. I guess we can be charitable and lay the blame on Jean Harlow's demise.

Myrna Loy's seventh pairing with William Powell was this Joseph L. Mankiewicz produced comedy that was directed by Richard Thorpe which features a screenplay by Jo Swerling. It's not as good as their earlier films together (nor at least one of their later efforts - I Love You Again (1940)), but it does exude a certain easy charm and serves as yet another example of their undeniable on screen chemistry.Powell plays a bohemian painter who has been "corrupting" Loy's younger sister Irene (Florence Rice) and the limp-wrist-ed fiancé she'd handpicked for her sibling, Waldo Beaver (John Beal), by keeping them out all night to teach them how to act while directing them in play rehearsals.Loy's character is particularly annoyed because she'd been in control of Irene's life, and Powell's has upset the apple cart, especially since her sister has fallen in love with him. When Loy confronts Powell, he agrees to stop seeing her sister on one condition, that she allow him to paint her "extraordinary" face (e.g. one full of character). She agrees, then naturally falls for Powell's character herself, though she never lets on.The only one who seems to know that both Loy and Powell have fallen for each other is Mrs. Kensington-Bly (Jessie Ralph), a friend of Loy's that also happens to have been acquainted with Powell's in her past.Unfortunately, the plot drags a bit when slapstick sequences overrun the snappy dialogue. Edgar Kennedy, Sidney Toler, and an uncredited Donald Meek are among those who appear in supporting roles.

WILLIAM POWELL and MYRNA LOY rise above a thin script and Richard Thorpe's uninspired direction to make DOUBLE WEDDING an unmitigated delight.Powell plays a lazy, laid-back hippie before it was fashionable to become one, living in a cluttered trailer and getting involved romantically with Loy and FLORENCE RICE. Rice does a nice job as Loy's flighty sister in love with JOHN BEAL, who plays a spineless character that Powell has to coach to show some spunk. Beal plays the weak character so effortlessly that he almost disappears, even when he has dialog.But the movie belongs to Powell and Loy who demonstrate why they had so much chemistry together. She's a rather bossy type who tries to manipulate Powell out of his obsession with her sister. Naturally, she ends up falling in love with the drifter herself.The frenetic last fifteen minutes are a bit much with the slapstick scenes all out of proportion to the rest of the film. But the majority of the scenes (especially those between Loy and Powell) are a prime example of comic flair as performed by professionals.If screwball comedy is your thing, this is the ticket.

A very funny, romantic movie. I enjoyed all the little creative pieces of "business" and lines such as "...you rang my gong." I enjoyed the treat of Sidney Toler as Keough.I enjoyed the beautiful, wonderful cars of the 1930s, and the background scenes of beautiful, wonderful downtown Los Angeles of the '30s and into the 1950s. I was born there in 1934 and remember it well when it was a beautiful place to live. Ah, nostalgia!! This is what it really did look like then.