"The Thrill of It All" is a rather frustrating film. Although it has a neat story idea and could have been a very funny movie, the main crisis in the film is so blown out of proportion that you can't help but think the story was way overdone and some subtlety would have really improved the film tremendously.

When the story begins, the Boyers (Doris Day and James Garner) appear to be a reasonably happy suburban couple. He's an OB/GYN and she's a stay at home mom who loves her kids (even though the oldest is pretty annoying). However, when she is by chance discovered by the owner of a soap company, she's asked to make a commercial for the company...and is a huge success. Soon, she's the main spokesperson for the company and she's earning much, much more than her husband.

Problems soon develop. One is that the husband is a Neanderthal who claims it's okay for his wife to have a career...until she has one. Another is a long series of problems which crop up....nearly all of which seem contrived and not actually serious problems for any normal family. But here in the film, it's all kooky and earth shattering...and the marriage is soon on the skids.

Subtlety is certainly a major problem with the movie and having tiny things continually turning into huge things impacted on my liking the film. As for the sexism, well, it was made in the 1960s and although Garner's character is an unlikable jerk, he is a 1960s male jerk who must be the only breadwinner or else his fragile ego cannot handle it. This is rather funny considering the film does star Doris Day, a woman who CONSTANTLY worked from the 1940s well into the 1970s supporting her various husbands.

Overall, an enjoyable domestic comedy but not one that really stands out due to some writing issues which makes it seem more like a sitcom than a movie. The concept of 'less is more' would really have helped this one. Oddly, however, I did really like seeing the writer (Carl Reiner) playing in various bad TV shows throughout the movie...this was pretty clever.

It may seem a little dated nowadays, and there were one or two scenes (very occasionally) where Dr Boyer's reactions to his wife's fame came across as a little mean spirited. Still it is so enjoyable, with many memorable scenes, including Andy's phone conversation with his father and the scene with Dr Boyer driving the family convertible into the swimming pool that wasn't there in the morning. Carl Reiner's screenplay is very clever, with numerous chuckles and the cameo he wrote in for himself is super. The plot tells of a housewife who becomes a commercial TV star much to the annoyance of her neglected husband. Whilst Norman Jewison does a great job directing, it is the performances that really drove the film. I still consider Doris Day as a talented singer and actress, here she took on a fresh and endearing approach that was needed for her character. I like James Garner too, and he is immensely likable. The two children acted well, they weren't annoying, quite the opposite actually, and Reginald Owen is stellar as Old Tom Fraleigh. Though my favourite supporting performance was Arlene Francis as Mrs Fraleigh, she was wonderful here. All in all, thanks to the script and the performances, this comedy is very warm and pleasant. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The Thrill Of It All finds James Garner and Doris Day as typical suburban couple, two kids, big house, live-in maid, and he's a doctor. Could a girl ask for more.

But Garner's the doctor for Arlene Francis who's having one of those late in life babies and she and husband Edward Andrews are excited as all heck. He and Doris get invited to their house for a little get together where Doris spontaneously extols the virtues of Happy Soap to the delight of Reginald Owen who is Edward Andrews's father. Owen is less excited about becoming a grandfather than he is with discovering Doris whom he insists become the new Happy Soap spokeswoman.

After that it's Garner who has a really difficult time in adjusting to his wife's new found celebrity. And Doris is liking the idea of making tons of money, more than Garner's practice brings in.

This was the first of two films James Garner and Doris Day are teamed and while they never became as famous as Rock Hudson and Doris Day they certainly had good chemistry together. Both by this time were becoming pretty old hands at screen comedy.

Best sequence in the film is when the spontaneous gift of a swimming pool for Garner and Day from Reginald Owen plus several boxes of bars of Happy Soap and the chain of events caused. It's still side splitting funny after 45 years.

Owen wanted a wholesome celebrity created for Happy Soap and you can't get more wholesome than Doris Day. The film bears certain similarities to the Jack Lemmon comedy Good Neighbor Sam where company owner Edward G. Robinson sees in Jack Lemmon's family wholesome spokespeople for his dairy products.

So if you want to see Doris Day morphed into Mrs. Butterworth, The Thrill Of It All is your film. Fans of Doris and Jim will be wanting more and they soon got it.