Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

AaronCapenBanner Dick Powell plays an office clerk named Jimmy MacDonald who loves entering all kinds of contests in hopes of winning the grand prize, including one from Maxwell House Ground Coffee. His co-workers decide to play a practical joke on him by faking a winning telegram saying that Jimmy has won the $25,000 grand prize. Ecstatic, Jimmy then goes overboard buying presents and proposing to his girlfriend, as well as receiving a promotion. When he learns the whole thing was a hoax, he finds himself in a real bind... Sporadically funny comedy is just too contrived and silly to succeed, despite an energetic cast. What a rotten trick to pull on someone too!

Michael Neumann This early Preston Sturges satire suffers by comparison to his later films, but even if it never reaches the dizzy heights expected of a Sturges comedy it still presents an enjoyable (if at times too predictable) farce. The earthbound scenario offers none of the director's usual madcap flights of fancy, following an unlucky entrant in a marketing slogan contest (Dick Powell) who mistakenly believes himself the winner of a $25,000 grand prize. It's all the result of an innocent practical joke, but the gag backfires when everyone else, including the contest sponsor, believes it too. The unsuspecting Powell suddenly finds the world off his back and at his feet, and the consumer frenzy that follows shows glimpses of the classic Sturges brand of anarchy, sadly lacking from the rest of the film. Lots of running around and shouting at double-quick speed can't really camouflage the lack of belly laughs, but the cast works up plenty of enthusiasm, and the final image (look quick) is wonderful.

Michael_Elliott Christmas in July (1940) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Preston Sturges comedy about a poor boy (Dick Powell) with big dreams who goes on a shopping spree after he thinks he's won $25,000 in a contest. This was actually my first film from the director and I got a tad bit nervous at first because the comedy in the opening ten minutes really didn't work for me. I wasn't sure how the rest of the film was going to work with me but it was a homerun after the scene in the office where Powell thinks he's won the money. The film is certainly pretty shallow in its delivery but that works just fine since the one word that came to my mind while watching the film was sweet. The film has a sweet little idea with sweet little messages and in the end it delivers on pretty much all levels. Powell is very good in the role but it's the supporting cast that steals every scene.

matusekpres Could this be one of Preston Sturges's most profound comedies? In addition to being one of the funniest and most underappreciated. In "Sullivan's Travels," Preston Sturges has theJoel McCrea character speak admiringly of fellow director FrankCapra. In "Christmas in July" possibly Sturges was trying to teachCapra how to handle sentiment without falling into sentimentality --the scene where Dick Powell is handing out presents to hisneighbors, and he gives a doll to a crippled girl in a wheelchair --a remarkably tender moment in the midst of a hectic scene -- donewith just the right touch, One of my favorite lines occurs whenbug-eyed Raymond Walburn sarcastically tells contest-winnerPowell, "I can't wait to give you my money!" Sturges also showsthat you can have plot complications without resorting to villains --no Capraesque class warfare here -- rich and poor are equallylovable -- even gruff William Demarest.