Goin’ to Town

A typically underwhelming Mae West vehicle, Goin’ to Town follows West’s Cleo Borden as she agrees to marry a wealthy rancher but is instead the beneficiary of a small fortune after he dies suddenly – with the remainder of the narrative detailing Cleo’s entry into high society and her eventual romance with an upper-crust Englishman. There’s ultimately not a whole lot within Goin’ to Town to get excited about or invested in, as the movie, written by West, suffers from an excessively thin plot that exists solely as a delivery system for a series of quips and one-liners. And while some of these bits of dialogue are admittedly rather amusing (eg after noting that someone is her intellectual opposite, Cleo tells him, “I’m intellectual and you’re opposite”), Goin’ to Town is ultimately a fairly interminable endeavor that seems likely to test the patience of even the most ardent West fan. (The song that closes the picture is a highlight, admittedly.)

*1/2 out of ****