The life story of a nonentity. Incredibly, Hollywood let this amateur write the script herself (something they wouldn't let even a pro like William Faulkner do) and the script is just that - amateurish. True it has something, authenticity, drive, even wit and sparkle and Mike Curtiz makes it all go by so fast for the first hour or so; but then the interest of the director seems to die with the script and, oddly enough, the disappearance of Donald Woods. Woods is a mechanical and unconvincing actor, far too old for an undergraduate, but Curtiz spikes up his scenes with elaborate camera movement (the dolly shot through the snow in the proposal scene) and effects (repetition of the record scratching out "Rock-a-Bye Baby") - maybe he felt Woods needed help. He sure did! But when Carson makes his belated entrance, Curtiz is content to let the camera run for long takes on such incredibly boring material as Jack's simulation of a vacuum cleaner salesman.After this low point, the script even starts to repeat some of the sharp one-liners from the first half of the film. It all ends, inconclusively and somewhat downbeat, in a railroad station as the camera dollies away from Russell and Carson through the scurrying crowds (we suspect that is Harry Hayden's voice on the loudspeaker) to The End title. Mind you, the film doesn't lack production values. A fortune has been poured into it. It has sets and atmosphere, good acting (the principals are their usual selves, but the script also has parts for a goodly parade of character actors including Alan Hale (one scene only) and some believable kids, but most of all an original Steiner score consisting mostly of generously and richly repeated excerpts from By The Light of the Silvery Moon and Bulldog Bulldog. Also We're in the Money, Oh You Beautiful Doll, It Had to be You. Oddly enough, it's the downbeat, very ordinarily directed scenes that stay in the memory, like the Pierson's losing their shirts because of a glut of roses. Fortunately, Walker's moody black-and-white photography overcomes and dampens Miss Russell's relentlessly jolly, perky performance (about which even Donald Woods justifiably complains).

Roughly Speaking was a pleasant little surprise when I caught it recently, like a lot of others I had never heard of it before. Russell is her always competent self and there is a bit of her future role of Auntie Mame in this performance. I have come to appreciate Jack Carson much more than I used to now that I am seeing a larger body of his work thanks to TCM and he is terrific in this playing against his usual type. IMHO it's his best performance at Warner's, just squeaking out his in The Hard Way.There is chemistry galore between Roz and Jack and that's what makes the picture work. They do indeed seem to be enjoying it and without Carson this could have been a boring weeper. Supporting cast is excellent, particularly the great Ray Collins. The only exception is Robert Hutton as the Son. Mr. Hutton was always hampered by the fact that he couldn't act.I think it rates a solid 7.5 Lastly, is it me, or does this film decidedly not feel like a Michael Curtiz helmed picture? Someone else tried to contrast it to Mildred Pierce which is wholly unfair...they are distinctly different types of films.

This was a real surprise. I found it hard to switch channels once I started watching the movie. The dialogue was witting and the whole movie charming. The movements between segments of the movie were abrupt but everything else I liked a lot.

Until I happened to catch it on the Turner Classic Movies channel, I'd never heard of Roughly Speaking. It turns out to be a charming and genuinely funny romantic comedy, set during the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. Roz Russell and Jack Carson, as a married couple raising a family, keep us wondering what crazy scheme they will cook up next in order to survive hard times. Their optimism is contagious. This family laughs a lot, especially when everything is going wrong, and it's real laughter--the kind that makes me laugh along with them. The ending seemed kind of abrupt, but apart from that, I found this movie great fun and often quite touching.