Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

A passable enough movie but all over the map, and while it was a vehicle for the Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler tandem, I liked it more for their supporting cast, featuring Hugh Herbert as a bumbling millionaire and Joan Blondell as a gold-digger. The musical numbers are mildly entertaining, but tap dancer Paul Draper lacks charisma and Ruby Keeler's singing is flat. I liked "Boulevardier from the Bronx" performed by Blondell and Jack Oakie more, as goofy as he was, and perhaps influenced by Blondells's décolleté. It's not horrible or anything, but you can do better. I suggest trying a movie like Footlight Parade from 1933 instead.

I was surprised to see how many IMDb contributors gave this movie a thumbs down. The story isn't any more substantial than a few dozen other romantic comedies of the time. But it moves along at a merry pace, especially when the cast takes over an ocean liner. And there are enough plot twists to keep it rolling. Dick Powell is his usual easygoing self. Ruby Keeler is surprisingly good --for an actress who had more than her share of detractors. Hugh Herbert dithers amusingly. And even Joan Blondell scores as a woman on the loose. Add some stylish production numbers-- with the usual bevy of toe-tapping chorus girls led by Keeler and Paul Draper -- and you've got a pleasant 90 minutes or so.

Although Colleen opens most promisingly when the players introduce themselves to the movie audience (why don't all movies do that? It should be the rule, rather than the exception), this musical comedy actually develops into a rather routine offering. In view of all the talent involved, both behind and in front of the camera, this outcome is rather disappointing. The cast list is enormous, and the behind-the-camera talent positively makes this movie an absolute must-see. For all that, it's a somewhat disappointing movie. Where did it go wrong? The photography, the sets and the players led by Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Jack Oakie, Joan Blondell and Hugh Herbert are all fine. It's with Bobby Connoly's weak dance direction that the movie really goes wrong. Dancer/choreographer Paul Draper plays himself and it's with his so-called "specialties" that the movie really takes a wrong or at least a very disappointing turn. For audiences weaned on Busby Berkeley, Draper's dance routines are absolutely nothing to write home about. The film's original cut ran 100 minutes, but it was mercifully shortened to 89 after preview audiences overwhelmingly gave the movie a low rating.

Despite the fact that Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler are the stars in their seventh and final screen pairing, the key character here is Hugh Herbert. That unfortunately is Colleen's problem.There are times when Hugh Herbert can be extremely funny, but a whole film really shouldn't be built around him. You can overdose on Hugh Herbert.In the Road to Zanzibar one of the gags, but far from the whole film involved Crosby and Hope getting involved with eccentric millionaire Eric Blore. He goes around just giving the family fortune away and sells them a diamond mine for a nominal cost. Like Herbert in Colleen, Blore has his keepers. But the whole film isn't built around him.In this film the family business is run by Dick Powell for Herbert who is his uncle and Herbert's sister Louise Fazenda. They've hired a keeper in Berton Churchill who breaks away from his usual stuffy banker type and here is the essentially decent, but eternally put upon keeper. Herbert gets involved with a couple of sharpies, Jack Oakie and Joan Blondell who take advantage of this nut job to rake in some big bucks. Ruby Keeler is the bookkeeper at a dress shop that Herbert buys for Blondell and the Powell/Fazenda/Herbert family are now guarantors of all the debts owed and accruing.Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote some nice songs for the film that did not boast any hits at all. Dick Powell never even bothered to commercially record any of them. The finale had dancer Paul Draper cleverly worked in to partner with Ruby while Powell sang. It was always a problem with them as a team, Ruby's flat singing and the fact you'll notice Powell never danced in any of their films. Colleen is pleasant enough entertainment, but the Powell/Keeler combination was definitely on the wane here.