Calm Yourself: A Dusty Little Screwball That Forgets to be Funny

Is it worth your time?

Honestly? Probably not, unless you’re a total completist for 1930s studio filler. If you love the lightning-fast patter of screwball comedies, you’ll likely spend the whole runtime wishing this had half the wit of a better film like Sea Legs. It’s light, it’s breezy, and it’s entirely forgettable.

The vibe: It’s a movie that thinks it’s being much more clever than it actually is. You can feel the screenwriters trying to force the 'comedic' complications, but the timing just feels... heavy. Like a lead balloon in a silk suit. 🎈

The "Detective" Agency

Patton starts this agency, and it’s supposed to be this hilarious, high-concept premise. But it just ends up being an excuse to move characters from room to room. The first job—delivering a drunk to a woman’s bed—is one of those scenes that’s meant to be slapstick chaos but ends up feeling just kind of sad. It goes on a beat too long, and you start looking at the furniture instead of the actors.

Robert Young is trying his best to hold it all together, but the script gives him very little to do besides look flustered. He’s got that classic leading man energy, but he needs something to bounce off of. When he’s with Madge Evans, the chemistry is... well, it’s there, I guess. It’s like two people reading from a teleprompter while trying to look like they’re flirting.

• The sets look like they were built in about four hours.
• The dialogue is basically just people yelling at each other in fancy hallways.
• There’s a weird amount of focus on the father pretending to be young, which is just kind of uncomfortable to watch now.

I found myself wondering if anyone actually laughed at this when it came out. Maybe they did. Comedy ages weirder than almost anything else. It’s like watching a joke that’s been sitting in the sun for ninety years. It loses the punchline, but keeps the weird, crusty edge.

Anyway, I didn't hate it, but I definitely didn't love it. It’s a movie that exists. That’s about all you can say for it. If you’ve seen The Income Tax Collector, you’ve basically seen the same energy, just with different hats.