Popular reviews

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  Review by laird ★★★★ 2

  The agency given to Miriam Hopkins' character seems downright miraculous when viewed through a lens of time spattered with manic pixie dream girls and selfless sacrificial muses. She's whimsical, sure, but she's driven by her own sexual and emotional desires. She's a real, thinking, feeling person that gets to act and react with the men. How much of that is directly from the Coward play or the Ben Hecht screenplay, I don't know, but there it is: Another sign of what could have been had the Hayes Code not stunted the dramatic growth of Hollywood for decades to come.

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  Review by brendan o'hare ★★★★ 3

  Pre code = Movie is about polyamory
  Code = Movie is about cowboys
  Post code = Movie is about Star Wars

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  Review by eely ★★★★½ 4

  yes, the rumors are true, i AM in love with gary cooper, a man who died 60 years ago. it is very unfortunate, but it is what it is.

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  Review by Ayo Edebiri ★★★★

  I can’t believe I have to go back in time and jump the Hays Code that is so crazy but I have to do it wow…..

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  Review by Brian Formo ★★★★★ 2

  “No sex!”*

  *ok, have a little. as a treat.

  What would Hollywood have made if the Hays Code didn't exist? More than any other Pre-Code movie, Design for Living makes you ponder that. Miriam Hopkins describes her different orgasms with different men, chooses who to make love with, wears a plunging nightgown, and says, I'm gonna have two boyfriends!!

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  Review by Alicia Malone ★★★★ 7

  This delightful pre-code comedy by director Ernst Lubitsch sees Gary Cooper, Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins in a (mostly) happy thruple. That is, a three person couple. It’s always refreshing to watch these pre-code films, where the female characters were very independent and sex is frequently mentioned. There’s great dialogue (from Ben Hecht and Samuel Hoffenstein adapting the work of Noel Coward) spoken by the charming cast... and all of that means we can make a “gentleman’s agreement” that ‘Design For Living’ is a fun and feisty classic.

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  Review by fran hoepfner ★★★★

  this happened to me in 2019

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  Review by theriverjordan ★★★★½ 3

  “Design for Living” is an entrancing depiction of what the much-whispered about concept of ‘adulting’ should look like.

  Director Ernst Lubitsch’s film is full of willowy sophisticates floating in and out of drawing rooms. It’s equally packed with impossibly clever innuendos flung about like fur coats.

  The intermingling of glamor and gaiety makes “Living” so darn charming; it forces you to wonder what evil was lurking in the souls of the Hollywood morals brigade when they pushed the production code out and quashed any near-term repeat resurgences of “Design’s” type of ingeniously raunchy humor.

  “Design’s” only blemish is that Fredric Marsh, Gary Cooper and Mariam Hopkins as the proto-thrupple don’t spend nearly enough time together onscreen. While Lubitsch’s movie is…

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  Review by eely ★★★★★ 1

  “stay an artist. that’s important. in fact, it’s the most important thing.”

  oh to be gilda and to have my pick between gary cooper and fredric march. to sleep with fredric one day and gary the next. i mean i’d ultimately choose gary but just having the option would be nice.

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  Review by Muriel 1

  whatever happened to gary cooper? the strong, silent type; that was an american

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  Review by Chris 🦑 ★★★★

  all 3 of them are so horny and thats fine with me but like. given that fact there was not nearly enough homoeroticism in this as there couldve (and shouldve) been.... i feel ripped off

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  Review by DallasFrance ★★★★½

  A playful, sexy, and intelligent comedy, with Fredric March, Gary Cooper, and the luminous Miriam Hopkins all having so much fun. Ninety minutes, and it felt like twenty. Hopkins is one of the most underrated classic Hollywood actresses, and Lubitsch’s films are so tight and well crafted.

  
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