Lover Come Back (1961)

Because Pillow Talk (1959) exists, this movie should never have been made. Do I like Rock Hudson and Doris Day together on screen? Sure I do. Do I like the sex comedy plot of two people who hate each other but somehow, through convoluted circumstances, end up falling in love because the man pretends to be someone else? Yeah, that's fun.

But at least in Pillow Talk, the Rock Hudson character starts falling in love with the Doris Day character. In Lover Come Back, Jerry (Hudson) is still the womanizing guy that will do whatever to get whatever he wants. He does not, however, begin falling for Carol (Day). He's just tricking her until she finally finds out who he is.

That's the biggest difference between the two films. And yet, Jerry and Carol STILL end up married. But the marriage is one that happens simply because they end up accidently drunk on Jerry's VIP mints. Carol doesn't magically fall in love with the real Jerry. In fact, she wants to immediately annul the marriage; unfortunately for her, there is no immediate annulment, and the ending jumps ahead nine months because she's pregnant and about ready to deliver their baby.

Huh?

She must have been hiding in seclusion all those months, and how she learned about being pregnant before the annulment could go through, I don't know. Then, there's also the weirdness of Jerry showing up at the hospital with a minister to "marry" them, because why? They had the marriage certificate (which allowed them to end up in bed together under the Film Code) but never actually had a marriage ceremony to make it 100% a marriage?

The ending is confusing, and I never have the sense of why Carol would want to be married to this guy, who, I guess is supposed to have "changed" or at least wants to "do his duty" by her. "Pillow Talk" was a little weak in bringing the couple together at the end, but at least it followed rom-com conventions. Lover Come Back just felt like a mess by comparison.

Tony Randall is in this one, too. Same role: Rich guy friend of Jerry... still in need of a therapist... but less for him to do in this role, and again, why did they all agree to play the same parts in a lesser film that wasn't nearly as interesting or well written?

Rating 2/5 stars

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