Hands Across the Table is weirdly charming

Is it worth your time?

If you like old-school rom-coms that have actual teeth, then yes, watch it. If you need your movies to have a massive budget or deep, philosophical stakes, you might find this a bit too light.

Carole Lombard is doing some serious heavy lifting here. She makes the manicurist bit feel real, which is weird because most of the time these 1930s movies feel like they were filmed inside a cardboard box.

The vibe is just... off in a good way

There is this moment where Reggie is just standing there, and the way she looks at Fred MacMurray feels so much more grounded than the rest of the script. It’s like she’s tired of the game, not just acting it.

Fred MacMurray is fine, I guess. He plays the ‘guy who is trying too hard’ well enough. Though sometimes he feels like he’s waiting for the cue to start his next line instead of actually listening to her. But then they have these snappy exchanges that make you forget the clunky bits.

• The cat in this movie has more personality than most of the side characters.
• The dialogue is sharp, like it was written by people who actually enjoyed the sound of their own voices.
• I kept waiting for a big dramatic pivot that never came, and honestly? Good.

It reminds me a little bit of the pacing in The Praying Mantis, where the silence between the characters says way more than the actual words. You can feel the chemistry bubbling, then dropping, then bubbling again.

There’s a scene in an apartment that goes on for a few beats too long. You can see them both thinking, 'Okay, are we done here?' It’s not smooth, and that’s why I liked it. It felt like watching real people try to figure out if they’re being idiots or not.

Don't look for deep meaning. Just look at the way the light hits the set. It’s not fancy, but it works. It’s a movie that knows it's a movie, and it doesn't try to be anything else. Sometimes that’s enough. 💅