All Dolled Up

nycritic

Bette Davis will always be remembered for her singular personality and her iconic screen presence. Because of this, early in her career, no one at either RKO or Warner's knew what to make of her, and she herself stated being crushed at overhearing a nasty comment directed at her because she was wearing a low-cut dress.

Why on Earth was she given this type of role is probably due to the fact that she wasn't pretty, she wasn't particularly kittenish, and she hadn't yet come into her own. Even so, in EX-LADY, she shows an independence just below the surface, and in uttering lines like "Men! I'm sick of the lot of you," it seems she's giving us a peek of what she'd do with such man-eating roles in THE LITTLE FOXES and THE LETTER.

However, for now she had to sort of make do with this bland sex-comedy, again a genre in which she was clearly uncomfortable with, and be content that at least she got a nice number of close-ups and managed to indeed, look quite smashing despite her own insecurities.

score 5/10

nycritic 5 May 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1359571/