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6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Babbitt remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you have a weird fascination with 1930s social satire or if you just want to see how Hollywood handled Sinclair Lewis back in the day. If you hate movies where the main character is a total blowhard, skip it. You will be screaming at the screen within ten minutes.
Guy Kibbee plays George F. Babbitt with this frantic, sweaty energy that is both impressive and kind of annoying. He treats his real estate job like he is running a crusade. It is exhausting just watching him pace around those sets.
There is this one scene where he’s talking up the growth of Zenith, and the camera lingers on his face just a second too long. You can see the actor thinking about lunch or maybe his rent. It’s those little cracks in the facade that make the whole thing stick.
Hattie McDaniel shows up, and as always, she brings a level of professionalism that the rest of the cast barely matches. She’s in and out, but she’s the only one who feels like a real person in a town full of cardboard cutouts.
The dialogue is fast. Maybe too fast. It feels like they were trying to cram an entire novel into a lunch break. Sometimes characters just stop talking, and the silence is suddenly heavy, like the script ran out of things to say. It’s not smooth, but it’s real.
It’s not as sharp as Are You a Failure?, which tackles similar ground but with a bit more bite. Babbitt feels like it’s pulling its punches, maybe because they didn’t want to offend the real-life Babbitts in the audience.
Still, it’s a strange little time capsule. It isn't a masterpiece, but it’s definitely not boring. Just don't go in expecting a deep psychological study. It's more of a long, loud shout into the void of the American middle class. 🏠💼