He Married His Wife (1940)

This might have played out better had there not been a glaring inevitability to the denouement right from the start! Racehorse owner "Randall" (Joel McCrea) and ex-wife "Valerie" (Nancy Kelly) are having a dance when the cops show up and arrest him for non-payment of alimony. It's only a short term glitch, but sets the scene for a film that sees him desperate for her to marry again and get her hands out of his wallet! To that end he has the support of his lawyer "Carter" (Roland Young) and to be fair to "Valerie", she has no shortage of suitors. The more they try to fix her up, though, the more things seem to go wrong with their (not so) cunning plans. "Freddie" (Cesar Romero) and "Paul" (Lyle Talbot) seem to be the front runners as we head into the home straight and that's where predicability swoops in and well, there you have it. For much of this, Kelly reminded me of Barbara Stanwyck but if only. She rather meanders through the film adding little by way of chemistry with any of her would-be beaus while McCrea just doesn't come across as if he's enjoying one bit of this lightly comedic affair. It's a fun premiss but executed indifferently.