Rising car salesman John Shelton is engaged to Frank Morgan's daughter (Ann Rutherford), and their marriage is preceded by hopeful promises of an ideal union. But no marriage is perfect, and in spite of good intentions, assumptions, trouble-making ex's and well-meaning interference by in-laws threaten to drive this couple apart. Innocent young adults become cynical and suspicious, fathers try to keep mothers from interfering, and good-intended bratty siblings (in this case, precocious Virginia Weidler) add in their own two cents, getting ice cream in return. Maybe this hits too close to home, because it comes off as rather ordinary in spite of trying to comically reveal how the attempts to be a perfect bride and groom ends up doing more harm than good.
This is aided by some fine supporting performances, particularly Gene Lockhart as Shelton's understanding boss, and stage veteran Irene Rich as the typical "Mrs. Hardy" MGM wife and mother. There's a reason why the Hardy family series focused on Andy rather than Cecilia Parker's Marion because Andy was unique (and perhaps too unreal), and Marion was simply too typical and bland. In this family, the Andy-like juvenile prankster played by Weidler provides the best moments, selling dad's favorite chair and ironically being the voice of reason in a family that MGM chief Louis B. Mayer desired to present to the world as the ideal all-American family that probably never existed.
This is aided by some fine supporting performances, particularly Gene Lockhart as Shelton's understanding boss, and stage veteran Irene Rich as the typical "Mrs. Hardy" MGM wife and mother. There's a reason why the Hardy family series focused on Andy rather than Cecilia Parker's Marion because Andy was unique (and perhaps too unreal), and Marion was simply too typical and bland. In this family, the Andy-like juvenile prankster played by Weidler provides the best moments, selling dad's favorite chair and ironically being the voice of reason in a family that MGM chief Louis B. Mayer desired to present to the world as the ideal all-American family that probably never existed.