This feature makes good use of the pairing of Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle. When they were in good form together, they could make even thin story ideas and gags look pretty good, and here they take a decent if familiar setup and make it work pretty well.
The setup has Normand's character married to a lazy, oafish husband, and Arbuckle saddled with a bossy, unpleasant wife. Things start off with the two put-upon spouses having a friendly meeting while washing clothes, and then this is followed by a sequence with all four characters in the park. The first half is the more enjoyable of the two, even though it does not have any uproarious gags. It shows the two stars at their most sympathetic, and even though the comedy is very light in itself, it takes on an added dimension because of the likable characters.
The second part features more of the kind of boisterous comedy for which Keystone movies were so well known. It's not bad either, and here too Normand and Arbuckle make the material work better than it would have on its own. But it's the gentler, domestic first half that best makes use of Mabel and Roscoe together.
The setup has Normand's character married to a lazy, oafish husband, and Arbuckle saddled with a bossy, unpleasant wife. Things start off with the two put-upon spouses having a friendly meeting while washing clothes, and then this is followed by a sequence with all four characters in the park. The first half is the more enjoyable of the two, even though it does not have any uproarious gags. It shows the two stars at their most sympathetic, and even though the comedy is very light in itself, it takes on an added dimension because of the likable characters.
The second part features more of the kind of boisterous comedy for which Keystone movies were so well known. It's not bad either, and here too Normand and Arbuckle make the material work better than it would have on its own. But it's the gentler, domestic first half that best makes use of Mabel and Roscoe together.