Arsenic and Old Lace

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Jo P A classic that never gets old. Zany, paranoid, terrifying lunacy. It’s really about the hypocrisy of the puritanical white middle class, but that’s not important. It’s good, weird fun. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/01/25 Full Review Harold C. Cary Grant delivers one of his funniest performances in this sharp, stage-born comedy that still feels fresh decades later. The ensemble cast keeps the farce buzzing, the set design gives it a lively play-meets-cinema charm, and the humor remains surprisingly effective with only a few dated touches. With just enough spooky atmosphere to work for Halloween but plenty of laughs to enjoy any time, it’s a classic that earns its spot as one of the funnier old Hollywood comedies worth revisiting. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/07/25 Full Review Wayne K Genres go in and out of fashion as time passes, and that’s what happened with screwball comedies, just without out the whole ‘coming back’ thing. Arsenic & Old Lace is one of the more famous films in the genre, and while I found it sporadically funny, most of it exemplified why such movies wore out their welcome. A tonne of zany antics, characters talking endlessly, people jumping in and out of conversations, running around and tripping over things while yelling and wildly gesticulating. Cary Grant, one of the most acclaimed actors who ever lived, owned up to the fact that he disliked his performance here. Grant was at his funniest when he was restrained, reacting to absurdity by attempting to minimise it. Here he simply feeds into it, and he shouts so many of his lines that you quickly get tired of him. Shenanigans that start off funny gradually become irritating to the point that the last 20-30 minutes is more of a tedious slog than anything else, despite the odd chuckle here and there. I like how the film is shot as both a wild comedy and an atmospheric horror, effortlessly swinging back and forth between the 2. I enjoyed it more overall than His Girl Friday, which I watched not long ago, and its certainly not a bad film by any means. It’s simply a film of its time, a period in history when audiences needed all the joy they could get their hands on. It’s not so surprising that it was so beloved in its time, but its also not a mystery as to why films of its ilk went the way of the Dodo all those decades ago. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/21/25 Full Review Curtis M I went into this film with high expectations, given its reputation as one of the great—yet underrated—screwball comedies of the 1940s. While “Arsenic and Old Lace” did get a few laughs out of me, its premise drifts so far into absurdity that I struggled to stay fully engaged. Cary Grant’s energetic performance was certainly a highlight, and I did appreciate some of the plot elements, but overall the film felt overlong, tiring to keep up with, and weighed down by jokes that too often came across as repetitive or overplayed. Unfortunately, I didn’t care for “Arsenic and Old Lace”, and I can’t imagine it will stay with me for long. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 09/01/25 Full Review Dawn R Im not sure what caught my eye to make me watch this movie. But I'm sure glad I did. Its funny, zany & never a dull moment. I love that the characters dont even recognize how crazy they are, even the leading man. Definitely one of my favorites. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/12/25 Full Review Stephen C Funny in 1 hour and 58 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/04/25 Full Review Read all reviews

Arsenic and Old Lace

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