Mae West Being Mae West in Go West Young Man

Is it worth your time?

If you like Mae West, you'll probably have a decent time. If you're looking for a tight, cohesive comedy, look elsewhere. People who hate stage-y dialogue and slow pacing will probably want to turn this off after ten minutes.

The whole thing feels like a play trapped in a movie's body. There's a lot of standing around in rooms, talking, and waiting for Mae West to say something with a double meaning. Honestly, that's exactly what I showed up for, but it does get a bit repetitive.

The Mae West Show

Mae is just playing herself, really. She walks into a scene, stares down everyone in the room, and tosses off a line that makes you wonder how it passed the censors. It works when she's on, but when the camera cuts away to the local townsfolk, the energy drops like a rock.

There's this one moment where she's just lounging around, and the lighting is so dramatic it looks like she's in a different movie entirely. It's distracting. I kind of loved it.

I found myself watching Stepin Fetchit more than the main plot. He’s got this way of moving that makes everyone else look like they’re running a race they don't want to be in. It's a complicated, uncomfortable legacy, but you can't deny he commands the frame.

Some Thoughts

• The pacing is weirdly stop-and-go.
• Some of the side characters feel like they wandered in from Half a Hero by mistake.
• Mae’s dresses deserve their own billing.
• The dialogue is sharp, but sometimes it feels like they’re just waiting for the next punchline.

It’s not as snappy as some of her other work, but it has a charm. It’s definitely not as weird as Emperor of the planet of rotting fish, but that’s hardly a fair comparison. Sometimes I wish she’d just stop trying to fix the plot and let the comedy breathe.

The ending feels like they just ran out of film and decided to call it a day. It doesn't really resolve, it just kind of stops. Whatever. It’s Mae West. You know what you’re getting. 🤷‍♂️