Dos más uno dos: A confusing, charming mess of a rom-com

Is this thing worth your time?

Honestly, it depends on how much patience you have for old-school misunderstandings. If you like 1930s style rom-coms where nobody just talks to each other like a normal human being, you might actually enjoy this.

But if you get annoyed by characters who make life impossible for themselves just to prove a point? You’re going to hate it. It’s a very specific kind of headache.

So, the movie is basically one long, drawn-out prank. Elena is this modern girl who drives too fast, but then she decides to act like a Victorian doll just to snag a guy who thinks he wants a 'pre-war' woman. It’s exhausting just thinking about it. 🙄

The whole 'Peggy' alter-ego thing is where the movie loses its marbles. Elena spends half the runtime in a wig or a different dress, and Carlos is just totally oblivious. He’s supposed to be this smart archaeologist, but he can’t tell his own childhood friend from her imaginary cousin? Okay, sure.

There’s a scene at the beach house where Elena makes him play croquet and bans his pipe, and you can tell the actor playing Carlos is just dying to get out of the scene. It’s funny, but not in the way the director probably wanted. It feels more like, 'Why are we still doing this bit?'

The honeymoon stuff on the boat is just plain weird. There’s a lot of running through corridors and throwing nightgowns out of portholes. It felt like a stage play that didn't know how to stop being a stage play. Everything is so rushed, yet somehow nothing actually happens for the first hour.

It’s not as tightly put together as something like The Broken Gate, which manages its drama with a lot more grace. This movie just kind of flails around until it decides to end.

Random notes from my notebook:

• Why is Carlos so obsessed with the 'pre-war' aesthetic? It’s a bit creepy, honestly.
• The boat race scene was probably the most expensive thing in the budget, and it shows.
• I really wanted someone to just tell the truth by the 30-minute mark.
• The nightgown reveal at the end is peak absurdity.

I left the movie feeling like I needed a nap. It’s not bad, but it’s definitely too much of a good thing that wasn't that good to begin with. Watch it if you want to see how people handled 'wacky' scripts back in the day, but don't expect it to change your life.