Love Before Breakfast: Watching a rich guy ruin everything for fun

Is this thing worth a look?

Honestly, only if you’re a die-hard Carole Lombard fan. If you prefer your romantic comedies without a heavy side of stalking, skip it. If you want to see how Hollywood sold 'relentless harassment as charm' back in the 30s, then maybe.

Lombard is, as always, the only reason to keep watching. She brings this sharp, frantic energy to a role that really doesn't deserve her. She's playing a woman who just wants to live her life, but Nick De Ruiz is playing a guy who thinks 'no' is just a suggestion.

The whole thing feels like a bad dream where the guy never stops calling. He basically decides to ruin her fiancé's career just to clear the field. It’s supposed to be funny, I think? It’s not.

Notes from the couch

• The pacing is weird. It goes from zero to obsession in about five minutes.
• I spent most of the movie waiting for someone to just slap the lead character.
• The dialogue is snappy, but it's used for some of the most uncomfortable arguments I've seen in a while.

It’s funny to compare this to something like The Tempest. That movie had its own brand of chaos, but at least it didn't make me feel like I needed a shower after the lead character got his way.

There is this one scene where he’s just looming in the background while she’s trying to have a conversation. It’s meant to look suave, but he looks more like a vulture. It lingers way too long. The camera operator must have been bored or something.

The writing feels like a committee tried to force a 'whirlwind romance' script but forgot to include the part where the woman actually likes the guy. It feels thin. Very, very thin.

I couldn't help but think about Sham while watching this, mainly because the whole dynamic feels like a performance that nobody actually believes. Lombard is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. She makes the lines work, even when the lines are saying 'I am a terrible person who thinks money buys love.'

If you like movies that feel like a relic of a time when people thought stalking was romantic, go for it. Otherwise, maybe just watch a clip of Lombard being funny elsewhere. She deserved better scripts than this. 🙄