HotToastyRag The first five minutes of Love Finds Andy Hardy are really cute. Lewis Stone, head of the Hardy household, is a benevolent judge with a sweet rapport with Fay Holden, his wife. Unfortunately, the only reason the movie started out cute was because Mickey Rooney, the lead, hadn't showed up yet. I don't know what he was trying to do or why he thought it was a good idea to do it, but watching this movie will make you absolutely despise him. He acts like he's been kicked in the head by a mule, his hormones are out-of-control and make him a selfish jerk, and his punchy energy makes him seem like a marionette whose main goal is to become a "real boy". Once again, I found myself talking through another terrible movie in order to keep my sanity. Judy Garland's strange posture and way of walking would have warranted criticism on its own, but the way her character was written deserves much more of that. Mickey Rooney is a callous hormone-crazed jerk who tries to take advantage of every girl he meets, but for some reason, Judy's crazy about him and tries to win him for herself. Nothing about their scenes together makes sense, and compared to his lunatic facial expressions, she seemed enormously depressed during each of her lines.Unless you want to see Mickey Rooney as an insane bobblehead, skip this one and pick another Andy Hardy movie. They made sixteen of them.

TxMike It was the late 1930s and the US had not entered the world war yet. This movie features many of the upcoming stars that were still teenagers.Mickey Rooney is Andy Hardy, always up to something. This time he has decided he needs a car for the upcoming Christmas dance and finds a real fixer-upper for all of $20. But he only has $12 and doesn't want to ask dad for money, so he arranges for the salesman to hold the car with a promise to pay the other $8 by December 23rd. His girl, Ann Rutherford as Polly Benedict, is going out of town for the holidays.Fortunately a guy friend of Andy's is also going out of town with his family and asks Andy to "watch his girl", a teenage Lana Turner as Cynthia Potter, while he is gone, and Andy agrees for $8. But later when the friends finds a new girl out of town, and welches on the deal, Andy is left scrambling.Meanwhile Judy Garland as Betsy Booth is visiting next door for the holidays. Since Betsy is only "13 or 14" (she really was 14 or 15) Andy didn't pay too much attention to the "kid." But Betsy had her sights set on Andy.Garland had been performing for several years already, and in this movie is the daughter of an entertainer, and at the Christmas dance Betsy gets on stage to sing a couple of songs, much to the enjoyment of Andy who was her date for the evening.A very cute, entertaining movie. Especially when we consider what all those teenage actors grew up to become in the entertainment world.

Neil Doyle Once again, MICKEY ROONEY is in all sorts of trouble and Judge Hardy is always there to get him out of it--or at least talk things over with him. And this time, the accent is on his girl troubles. It's kind of amusing just to see the pretty ANN RUTHERFORD and a very young LANA TURNER throwing themselves at Rooney the way they do--I mean, let's fact it, he was never a looker.Gone are the days when teens dressed like they do here--Rooney wearing a derby on a bright summer day and not a pair of jeans in sight. The script has Ann Rutherford's Polly going away on a Christmas visit to an aunt, which gives Rooney an excuse to discover Lana Turner's Cynthia at a swimming pool. She serves as his playmate for this particular Hardy story and it's easy to see why MGM kept her under contract for years to come.JUDY GARLAND is Betsy Booth, who announces right at the start that she's "going to be on the stage some day"--and was that a good prediction! She also gets to sing a few numbers in the now famous Garland style.The plot ambles along predictably and pleasantly, as most Hardy films do, and suffice it to say that Rooney's fling with Lana Turner is the most enjoyable aspect of the story and well played by both youngsters. But boy, could he mug! Yes, even then, he dispensed with some pretty extravagant bits of mugging that became more and more pronounced as the years went on. Some called it talent--others may have disagreed. Whatever it was, he was a very popular box-office star at the time this one was made.Summing up: Pleasant enough for Hardy fans, and certainly a reminder of how different times were for teens in the late '30s.

ccthemovieman-1 This is very corny in spots, especially with the goofy faces Mickey Rooney makes with the girls. They are so childish they get annoying quickly. However, he stops doing that fairly soon, thankfully.Even though these Andy Hardy films are sappy, there is a certain charm to them. Of note in this film is a very young Lana Turner and a young Judy Garland, whose songs are so-so in here. She plays an appealing role but is not convincing as a 12-year-old. She looks physically more mature than pre-teen.Lewis Stone, meanwhile, is perhaps the best character in this film as he was in most movies in this series. I really liked his hear-to-heart talk with Rooney. In an old-fashioned way, it's nice to see a teen with a great rapport with his parents. Some may not believe it, but it DOES happen in some families!!