I think most film fans approach this film desperately wanting to like it. With Hitchcock directing and Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery taking the leading roles it has a wonderful pedigree and should be hugely entertaining; but, I'm sad to say, this is not a great film. It has some fine comic moments in it, and it has glamour and style, but unfortunately the story and characters are basically unappealing. By the end of the film, instead of being charmed and entertained by their antics, the two main characters have become very, very annoying. One could even describe Carole Lombard's character as sadistic, so awful and callous is her behaviour; but we are meant to like her and her husband; we are meant to want them to be reconciled, and so as a concept it just doesn't work. Here style and wise-cracks win out over believable human emotion, and any dramatic work is doomed when you stop believing in its characters. The script (by Norman Krasner) is definitely where the problems lie and I doubt there was much Hitchcock could have done to make it work without major rewrites.
As a rare Hitchcock foray into pure comedy this is a curio - a disappointing film but definitely not proof that he didn't have a talent for the genre; after all he did have a great (if dark) sense of humour, and comic touches abound in many of his successful suspense films. Taken in isolation there are a number of funny scenes in Mr and Mrs Smith, but unfortunately they don't meld to make a coherent and entertaining whole.
As a rare Hitchcock foray into pure comedy this is a curio - a disappointing film but definitely not proof that he didn't have a talent for the genre; after all he did have a great (if dark) sense of humour, and comic touches abound in many of his successful suspense films. Taken in isolation there are a number of funny scenes in Mr and Mrs Smith, but unfortunately they don't meld to make a coherent and entertaining whole.