If you're going to use John Wayne as your leading man in a romantic comedy this is the direction to take. WIthout Reservations allows him to be a somewhat stoic soldier who has old-timey values and also spends a large amount of the film being grumpy and quiet. It suits him, and keeps him from having to spend too much time trying to convey romantic emotions which I think he struggles with. That burden is put on Claudette Colbert who nails it every time. She is ridiculously charming as always, and sells all the emotions a film like this needs. I liked the simplicity of this story, and the combination of different misunderstandings that lead to a number of different misadventures along the way. The three leads rarely wind up where they plan, and I think that makes for a nice mix of rom-com and road film.
The biggest struggle I had when watching WIthout Reservations is that it employs one of my least favorite story structures in order to manufacture conflict. It relies on complete lies from one of the romantic leads in order to generate the rift between them. In this particular case I'm not even sure if all the lies were necessary, because it wouldn't be likely to change any of the interactions they had if he knew that she was this famous writer. I understand the reason for it, and it does give her character the opportunity for some growth, but it still annoys me because the inevitable breakdown in the relationship doesn't feel earned, it feels written. But I'm kind of used to this in rom-coms, and Without Reservations isn't too hamfisted in the way they do it, so I still liked the film overall.
The biggest struggle I had when watching WIthout Reservations is that it employs one of my least favorite story structures in order to manufacture conflict. It relies on complete lies from one of the romantic leads in order to generate the rift between them. In this particular case I'm not even sure if all the lies were necessary, because it wouldn't be likely to change any of the interactions they had if he knew that she was this famous writer. I understand the reason for it, and it does give her character the opportunity for some growth, but it still annoys me because the inevitable breakdown in the relationship doesn't feel earned, it feels written. But I'm kind of used to this in rom-coms, and Without Reservations isn't too hamfisted in the way they do it, so I still liked the film overall.