MartinHafer Considering that the film was directed by Raoul Walsh and starred Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett, you would prob assume that the film would be better than this one. However, Tracy was not yet a star and Walsh was a ways off from being a top director, so in this film they obviously were given a second-rate script. Fortunately, despite the film's many deficiencies, they were able to make the most of a relatively dull film.Much of the movie seems virtually plot-less--with an exciting story only occurring near the end. Up until then, it seems to just meander--showing a dopey young cop (Tracy) making good again and again as well as courting a pretty young lady (Bennett). Despite the aimless direction, Tracy plays a likable dope who, after a while, really grows on you. And, fortunately, the last 10 minutes or so is interesting enough to at least let the film end on a high note.By the way, there IS a bright moment in the film where, out of the blue, Tracy's character talks about a movie he just saw..."Strange Innertube"! This is actually referring to the Gable/Shearer film "Strange Interlude"--an odd little film made by rival studio, MGM, in which the characters act AND you can hear what they are thinking. In this cute parody of the MGM film, suddenly you can hear what Tracy and Bennett are thinking as they being making out--it's very cute and certainly the high point in an otherwise odd and slow film.Worth watching, certainly, but far from the best work of all concerned. It's mostly a curiosity that I can only strongly recommend to Tracy fans who want to be able to say they've seen all of his work.

Michael_Elliott Me and My Gal (1932) ** 1/2 (out of 4)A New York cop (Spencer Tracy) fights with and then falls in love with a waitress (Joan Bennett) but things take a bad turn when her father and sister get involved with a gangster (George Walsh). This is a sometimes interesting pre-code that starts off as a (bad) comedy but then turns into a romance before once again changing into a drama. I do have to question the screenplay for trying so many things as the film seems extremely uneven and in the end I had to see it as a major disappointment considering the talent involved. The biggest problem is the screenplay that is all over the place and this includes a pretty bad start where we have to follow a drunk around for a non-stop gag that just keeps going and going and going. I'm going to take stab and say that this scene with the drunk runs at least ten minutes and then he keeps coming up for the next ten minutes. The joke pretty much has him not paying for meals, asking the cops to arrest a fish for stealing his worm or just being plain annoying. I'm really not sure if Walsh was having a kick with this stuff or what but it should have ended up on the cutting room floor. The stuff dealing with the gangsters is pretty uninteresting as well because they're brought into the story due to Bennett's sister, someone we really don't care about and since it isn't actually happening to Tracy's girl, there's no added drama thrown in. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why the movie was jumping around so much and a lot of the ending just feels tacked on for no good reason other than to have some action. What makes the film worth viewing are the performances by the two leads. The two work very well together as they both come off quite charming and entertaining. The snappy dialogue they get to throw at one another is a plus as is a nice sequence where they talk to one another while their "thoughts" also get told. George Chandler and Henry B. Walthall have small roles as well.

CCsito This 1932 pre-code movie moved from being a comedy to a drama over the course of the movie. It has Spencer Tracy as a policeman who meets a waitress in a diner played by a very young Joan Bennett. The beginning of the movie appears to focus on a drunkard who keeps loitering in the diner and causing havoc there. The plot then changes to a former boyfriend of Joan Bennett's sister character who is arrested and imprisoned and then escapes. Joan's sister still harbors a torch for the bad guy even though she marries a somewhat nerdish man. Spencer tries to romance Joan and they have a date in her house which featured a scene where their internal thoughts in their minds are expressed when they are verbally talking to each other. Joan also "shakes" her bottom in a scene when she is listening to music from a phonograph. Joan's sister escaped convict guy later hides in a room in Joan's house and his whereabouts are exposed by a dog and a paralyzed mute veteran who lives in the house. Spencer and Joan are able to decipher the paralyzed mute veteran's Morse code message and Spencer shoots and kills the convict. Spencer decides not to press charges against Joan's sister for helping out the convict. There is a bit of a mating dance made between Spencer and Joan throughout the movie and they get married at the end. Not a great movie, but an interesting one to see how more liberal movies were before the Code was instituted.

haroldg-2 'Me and My Gal' is an entertaining romance/mystery/screwball comedy, featuring charming performances by Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett, 18 years before they would pair again in the classic 'Father of the Bride.' Both stars are at their early best here, zinging wisecracks at each other at a frantic pace. Joan Bennett is the real surprise, shining in a role that would have been well suited for Myrna Loy or Claudette Colbert. Worthwhile for the two stars.