She Done Him Wrong Reviews

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was included in the '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die' list, I was quite eager to check it out. It was also the very first movie I saw starring Mae West and, well, it turned out to be quite unforgettable, that's for sure. Still, to be honest, it's too bad the movie itself was rather clunky after all. Indeed, even though it was lasting only 1 hour, there were so many characters and so many sub-plots involved but, with such a short running time, there was no way that any of it could be fleshed out properly. To make it work, they should have either remove at least half of the characters or double the running time. Anyway, at least, there is no doubt that Mae West was fascinating to behold though. The funny thing was that she was not extraordinary gorgeous but she had such a charisma and her dialogues full of wits and innuendos were just awesome and such a contrast with what you would get only a few years later in your average Hollywood production. Indeed, that's another interesting with this movie, the fact that it was made just before they came up with some official moral rules and censorship, something that's still impacting movies today. As a result, sure, there was still no nudity and no sex at all but the character played by Mae West basically couldn't have a normal conversation with a man without turning him upside down with her words. In general, beside Mae West herself, the dialogues were the other asset in this movie but, unfortunately, the rest barely worked though. It was fun though to see Cary Grant when he was younger but he was rather wasted here playing the most boring character of the bunch. The fact that he did get the girl at the end after all was also really random and hardly convincing. Anyway, to conclude, it was still really awesome to discover Mae West and, only for her, the damned thing is definitely worth a look.

In the presence of Mae West, the story is smart enough to take a backseat to her ribald sexuality and zest for quips. A ham of the highest order, West was goofy on the blonde sex goddess persona before it was even solidified as an iconic image of the cinema. After all, this was around the same time that Jean Harlow was only beginning her ascendency into the Valhalla of pop culture iconography and movie stars. Not even the supporting cast, with a young Cary Grant, can gain much footing while standing next to her. She Done Him Wrong is the very essence of West’s star persona, it’s her show and nothing else even matters or compares.

The plot, vaguely based on her play Diamond Lil but watered down due to the demands of Hollywood production, concerns a showgirl, her gangster ex-boyfriend, and an undercover police officer all keeping track on what’s possibly going down. Of course there’s subjects like prostitution, jewelry theft, and the bad girl goes semi-good ending, only the last one is outwardly spoken of while the rest are elliptically mentioned since the Production Code was in full force. But none of this matters, we know exactly where everything is going from the time each character is introduced, and the plot is smart enough to pause itself to allow time for West to do what she does best. And that’s really the only reason necessary to watch She Done Him Wrong, and it’s a damn fine reason.