Perfectly Mismated: A Headache Next Door

Is this worth your time?

Honestly, only if you are a completionist for old-school slapstick or have a weirdly specific soft spot for Leon Errol’s wobbly legs. If you want a movie that makes sense or respects the concept of personal boundaries, skip this. It is a loud, chaotic short that feels like someone shouting in a hallway for twenty minutes.

The whole premise is basically a nightmare scenario for anyone who has ever gone through a breakup. Leon Errol is just trying to exist, and suddenly his ex-wife is moving into the apartment right next door. It is the kind of setup that relies entirely on people being unable to shut their front doors or keep their voices down.

The chaotic energy

There is a lot of running in and out of rooms. So much running. You start to wonder if these people have actual jobs or if they just exist to create domestic friction. It reminds me a bit of the frantic pacing in The Handy Man, where things just escalate because the script says so, not because anyone is acting like a human being.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Perfectly Mismated (1934) through its definitive frames.

• The apartment walls are paper thin, obviously.
• Every time a door opens, someone is shocked.
• The shouting matches are... a lot.

I found myself staring at the background furniture more than the plot. There is a lamp in the corner that seems to move three inches to the left every time they cut back to the living room. It is distracting. Or maybe I was just looking for any reason to look away from the screen for a second. 🙄

Lucille Ball is in there, and she is clearly already finding that spark that would make her famous later. She is too good for this script. You can tell she is holding back just enough to not blow the rest of the cast off the stage. She is the only reason this thing stays afloat.

Final thoughts

It is not a masterpiece. It is barely a movie. It is more of a theatrical tantrum caught on film. If you liked the vibes in Roaming Romeo, maybe this hits the spot, but otherwise, it is just noise. It’s funny in a way that makes you feel tired after it is over. Not the good kind of tired, either.

The ending comes out of nowhere. It is like the director just decided they ran out of film stock and called it a day. I didn't hate it, but I’m not exactly rushing to watch it again. Sometimes these old shorts are better left as memories.