TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

HotToastyRag Besides the title song, The Tender Trap doesn't have much going for it. Frank Sinatra plays a playboy bachelor, and David Wayne, a family man, envies his lifestyle. One day, David leaves his wife and children and decides he's going to live "the life" too. While he becomes infatuated with Frank's current squeeze, Celeste Holme, Frank is left to play around with aspiring actress Debbie Reynolds. Only, Debbie is a very good girl; she won't take any love-em-and-leave-em behavior.I was never a Debbie Reynolds fan; she always seemed enormously insincere and amateur. If the king of all bachelors is going to be hooked in by somebody, she'd better be worth it—and I have a hard time believing Debbie Reynolds is worth it. It's pretty dated, with lots of jokes about men's view of "death by marriage", and won't really appeal to modern women. Do yourself a favor: listen to the song and skip the movie.

Gideon24 Despite some dated ideas about dating and relationships, the 1955 romantic comedy The Tender Trap is still sparkling adult entertainment thanks to a proved rom-com premise and some terrific performances.Charlie Y. Reader (Frank Sinatra) is a theatrical agent and confirmed bachelor who lives in an elegant Manhattan penthouse complete with hot and cold running women, parading in and out of the place 24/7 much to the shock and jealousy of Charlie's best friend, Joe (David Wayne), who has come to New York from Indianapolis after leaving his wife. Joe finds himself attracted to Sylvia (Celeste Holm), who only has eyes for Charlie.Enter Julie Gillis (Debbie Reyolds), a young wannabe actress who gets cast in a show that Charlie is involved in, but acting is just a time-filler for Julie. Julie wants to be a wife and a mother and knows exactly what kind of man she wants, how many children she wants, and where they will all live and won't even sign a run of the play contract for the show because she's afraid show business might interfere with her plan, but that's nothing compared to the fight she has to put up to keep Charlie at arm's length, who stands for everything that Julie is against.Adapted from a stage play by Max Schulman and Robert Paul Smith, Julius J. Epstein's screenplay does contain some dated elements, but the screenplay does offer some surprising adult touches I really didn't see coming...the fact that Joe falls in love with Sylvia and actually proposes to her, even though he technically is still married, had to be a bit of an eye-opener in 55, not to mention the fact that Charlie actually proposes to two different women in a 24 hour period. We see from the opening frames, that Charlie is a player and in the beginning he claims to hate it, even though it's clear that he doesn't. Charlie does slimy things during the course of the story, but one thing I noticed is that he never actually lies to anyone, which I found refreshing for a romantic comedy.Charlie is not in this alone though...none of these characters had time to polish their halos, they all make wrong moves at one point or another, causing some very tangled relationships, which has been the genesis for classic romantic comedy forever and though the characters do wrong, we see where it's coming from and we forgive.Sinatra has rarely been as charming and sexy as he was here and Reynolds proved to be a surprisingly solid leading lady for him, despite their difference in age, which is addressed in the screenplay and they get brilliant support from Holm and Wayne in the second leads. Carolyn Jones and Lola Albreight are decorative as members of Charlie's harem and the film features a fantastic title song by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Husen that received an Oscar nomination for Best Song. Lovers of classic romantic comedy don't have to look any further than here for some silly sexy fun.

emmapeel-2 This is yet another smarmy Hollywood movie where a young woman falls for an older guy and everything is supposed to be oh so cute simply because that's the premise. In real life, Sinatra was 17 years older than Reynolds. They don't seem to have much in common in this movie, but Hollywood has always loved this combination of young women with older men (both on screen and off). At least with Bogart and Bacall, there was some chemistry. I understand why this improbable pairing appeals to some men, but it certainly doesn't appeal to all women. Why doesn't Hollywood make movies about guys falling in love with older women? Sunset Boulevard is not what I had in mind. If you like mindless fluff with improbable plots, then this is a movie for you, but if you like movies with substance, don't bother with this.

MartinHafer "The Tender Trap" is a very odd film because it's almost like a couple different movies combined. The first is a light comedy where Frank Sinatra plays a lovable playboy. The second is a darker story where the hollowness of Sinatra's care-free life is exposed in all its ugliness and selfishness. The net effect, though quite good, probably served to confuse audiences and I could easily see how the film would have very skewed reactions among the viewers.The film begins with David Wayne leaving his wife and kids and coming for a surprise visit with his lecherous old friend, Sinatra. It soon seems that all of Frank's time is spent chasing one woman after another and he has absolutely no interest in settling down and getting married. Wayne appears to envy this sort of existence--at least at first. However, as the film progresses, the humor vanishes as Wayne starts to see that Sinatra is hurting these women and that he is just a selfish jerk--and he tells him so. So much for being a comedy!! Despite this being a somewhat uncomfortable mix of moods, I liked the film quite a bit. I guess that's because I am a very happily married man and I enjoyed the pro-marriage indoctrination (which the film really was). It just seems pretty funny that they chose Sinatra for such a part--as, in many ways, he was an awful lot like the character he played. As for the women in Frank's life, Celeste Holm had the best part and did a lot with it. Some have complained about Debbie Reynold's rather one-dimensional character, but I thought she was pretty good. But, like several reviewers pointed out, Wayne and Holm definitely were the standout performances