Did you people see the same film I saw?

Absolutely Fantastic

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Charlie (Frank Sinatra) is a successful Broadway agent and swinging bachelor with his pick of lovely ladies. His old buddy (David Wayne) comes for a visit, having temporarily tired of married life, and has fun with one of Charlie's girls, played by Celeste Holm. A young singer (Debbie Reynolds) catches Charlie's eye, but she's prim and proper and set on marriage.Sinatra was a huge star and icon of all things hip and sexy in 1955. He's wonderful in the movie; unfortunately, the script isn't. Originally a play, the characters still politely take turns giving overly-witty speeches and it looks like a staged play (the stars even take a curtain call at the end). Holm and Wayne, as the second-tier stars and comic relief, reliably play their usual smart aleck characters, but the act gets old. Reynolds, nearly half Sinatra's age, has the allure of a Brownie Scout; there's absolutely no chemistry between the two and their romance never rings true.Fans of Sinatra will enjoy his cool and sensuous performance, but the story could have used needed more music in addition to the oft-sung title song and a more realistic script. It's silly but harmless 50's fun. 6.5 stars.

Incredibly lame Sinatra vehicle teaming him with Debbie Reynolds in a real oil and water mix. It wants so-hard-it-hurts to be an urbane comedy in the Tracy / Hepburn vein with supposedly extra added glamour centred as it is on the lifestyles of show-people but falls flatter than a trodden-on pancake. Sinatra gets an easy part as the rake the "dames" as he would no doubt call them can't get enough of whose life is spiced up by the arrival of old chum, David Wayne as a disillusioned married man and then Debbie Reynolds as a priggish and to my eyes anyway, boyish looking new girl in town who of course reels her man in by the simple expedient of actually saying "No" to him. All it is, is a dressed up homily to marriage, although personally I'd run a mile from Reynolds' hubby-hunting ingénue. There's no chemistry between the leads at all, Sinatra is unquestionably, as Reynolds herself tells him at one point, much too old for her. Celeste Holm and David Wayne get to mug and swoon in the background to no telling effect plus the production is so stage-bound, you can almost hear the line-prompter from off-stage feeding the actors. Its one redeeming feature is the well-known title song which is inserted into the movie not periodically enough but really on the whole this is sloppy Hollywood film-making of the worst kind, almost embarrassing to watch, particularly in these thankfully more enlightened times.

"The Tender Trap" is a very odd film because it's almost like a couple different movies combined. The first is a light comedy where Frank Sinatra plays a lovable playboy. The second is a darker story where the hollowness of Sinatra's care-free life is exposed in all its ugliness and selfishness. The net effect, though quite good, probably served to confuse audiences and I could easily see how the film would have very skewed reactions among the viewers.The film begins with David Wayne leaving his wife and kids and coming for a surprise visit with his lecherous old friend, Sinatra. It soon seems that all of Frank's time is spent chasing one woman after another and he has absolutely no interest in settling down and getting married. Wayne appears to envy this sort of existence--at least at first. However, as the film progresses, the humor vanishes as Wayne starts to see that Sinatra is hurting these women and that he is just a selfish jerk--and he tells him so. So much for being a comedy!! Despite this being a somewhat uncomfortable mix of moods, I liked the film quite a bit. I guess that's because I am a very happily married man and I enjoyed the pro-marriage indoctrination (which the film really was). It just seems pretty funny that they chose Sinatra for such a part--as, in many ways, he was an awful lot like the character he played. As for the women in Frank's life, Celeste Holm had the best part and did a lot with it. Some have complained about Debbie Reynold's rather one-dimensional character, but I thought she was pretty good. But, like several reviewers pointed out, Wayne and Holm definitely were the standout performances

"The Tender Trap" is a snapshot of the '50's, where we've seen lots of cocktails, smoking, and light sexual repartee. It was based on the play "The Tender Trap", that had a short run during the 1954-55 Broadway season (It starred Kim Hunter, Ronnie Graham, Robert Preston and Joey Faye, repeating his role as Sol Schwartz). It was one of hundreds of light, fluff designed to appeal to the matinée and business man crowds, who just wanted some light-weight comedy.In the film Frank Sinatra is ultra-smooth playing a character probably not too far removed from himself. Lots of beautiful dames, booze, and a good friend (played winningly by David Wayne) to keep him grounded. He seems to have the world on a string, moving throughout the day from one beauty to another.Debbie Reynolds plays a singer/dancer who is reluctant to take a job in a Broadway show, because she plans to marry four months after the show has opened. Even though she has not met the man of her dreams yet.Guess who it turns out to be. That's right, totally predictable. And the script is archaic in it's views about women and marriage, but who cares. It's all a lot of fun (especially Celeste Holm in a marvelous role).Well worth the time for a viewing.8 out of 10