Mae West is the only reason to watch I'm No Angel

If you have any patience for pre-Code wit or just want to see someone absolutely dominate a screen without breaking a sweat, watch I'm No Angel. It is not exactly a tight narrative—it wanders around like it has nowhere to be—but that is fine. If you hate slow setups or movies that rely entirely on the charisma of one person, maybe skip this one.

Mae West is, obviously, the whole show. She writes her own lines, and you can tell because she is the only one who sounds like she is having any fun. Everyone else is playing a buttoned-up suit while she is playing a wrecking ball in a silk dress.

There is a scene in the lion’s den that is just wild. She walks in there like she is going to the grocery store. It is totally ridiculous, but the way she holds the frame makes you believe she might actually have a psychic connection with a big cat. Or maybe she just scares the animal, who knows.

Cary Grant is in this, too. He is young, handsome, and mostly there to look confused while Mae says things that would have made a Victorian ghost faint. He is fine, but he is just a prop here. A very good-looking prop, but a prop nonetheless.

The pacing is honestly a bit weird. It jumps from the circus to the city, and the transition feels like someone just turned a page without finishing the chapter. But the movie doesn't care. It just moves on to the next one-liner.

Some of the supporting cast are doing this very broad, Vaudeville-style acting that feels a bit dated, even for 1933. It clashes with how natural West feels, but it adds to the weird charm of the whole thing. It is like watching a play where half the actors didn't get the memo that the cameras were rolling.

I found myself wondering if Hattie McDaniel felt like she was trapped in a different genre entirely. She is always great, even when the script gives her crumbs.

The courtroom scene at the end? It is pure nonsense. Legal logic? None. Comedy? Tons of it. It’s the kind of ending that makes you laugh because of how little it cares about being realistic.

It is not nearly as tightly constructed as Fast Life, which felt like it was sprinting to the finish line. I'm No Angel prefers to stroll and wink at the audience.

• That one dress with the feathers is a total crime against fashion, but she makes it work.
• The dialogue is 90% innuendo and 10% genuine sass.
• I really wanted to see more of the circus life before they moved the whole thing to the penthouse.
• Mae West never looks at the camera directly, yet you feel like she is looking right through your soul.

Watch it for the attitude. Don't worry about the plot holes; they aren't going to fix themselves anyway. 🥂