Blondie Cinematic Universe 2 of 28

Dagwood Bumstead loses his job when he tries to stand up for his rights, and when his wife Blondie meets with his boss Mr. Dithers to get it back, he gives her the job instead. Frustrated with being a stay-at-home dad for about 10 minutes, Dagwood agrees to go on a fishing trip with his neighbor, Marvin, and abandons his child. Unbeknownst to him, the trip is a pretext for Marvin to carry on an affair with his mistress, and he is pressured into doing the same with her friend.

Much better than the first movie. I got a genuine laugh from Dagwood punching a salesman who mistook him for a housewife. They’re playing to their strengths with more physical comedy. Unfortunately, they also doubled down on giving Baby Dumpling more dialogue, woodenly recited in the most irritating monotone possible. Worryingly, it seems like “Blondie thinks Dagwood is having an affair” is going to be a recurring thing in these movies, although this time she has physical evidence instead of just gossip. There’s a cute gag where she’s the one who runs into the mailman, but for a movie titled Blondie Meets the Boss there’s surprisingly little of Blondie in the workplace, which I kinda would’ve liked to see explored more (the film seems quietly progressive on that front), but obviously Dagwood in an apron, who absentmindedly starts referring to himself with feminine pronouns, is more entertaining.

• This movie starts with the same opening sequence and theme song from the first movie, reinforcing that this is pretty much a TV show. I think this was a later addition but I'm not sure.
• What kind of world is this where a couple going on vacation is front page news? Did the newspaper have to push back news of Kristallnacht to page 2?
• Part of the plot features Blondie’s college-age sister Dot (a non-comic-canon character who's apparently never mentioned again after this), breaking into their house, thinking they’re on vacation, so she and her male partner Freddie have a place to stay during the State Jitterbug Championship (and, presumably, to fuck).
• Freddie, fed up with having to babysit, calls Dot something that is bleeped out and I can’t find out what it was.
• Dagwood, played by Arthur Lake, is pressured into kissing a girl played by Dorothy Comigore. Comigore would later appear in Citizen Kane, a movie inspired by William Randolph Hearst, founder of Blondie publisher King Features Syndicate, as Kane’s second wife Susan Alexander, a role inspired by Hearst's mistress Marion Davies, who may or may not have been Lake’s mother-in-law.
• I was not expecting a movie based on Blondie to be such a hotbed for extramarital temptation. I think they should bring this into the comics, maybe have a big story arc where Blondie kicks Dagwood out of the house because she thinks he’s having an affair with Fritzi Ritz (rivals since their flapper days), and he commiserates with Leroy Lockhorn and Andy Capp.
• Sandwich Watch: The first mention of sandwiches occurs 35 minutes in, and they seem to have gained an extra layer. "I wonder how Daddy gets these things into his mouth," ponders Baby Dumpling.
• Prior to the reveal that he’s a philanderer, I assumed Marvin was there because neighbor Herb Woodley hadn’t been created yet, but it turns out he had been, and Blondie even mentions a Mrs. Woodley later in the film. Apparently Herb was originally named Bill, and they had an infant son named Alex. Interesting because the Woodleys are childless today and Baby Dumpling’s real name is Alexander Hamilton Bumstead. Did Blondie and Dagwood steal their neighbor’s baby?