Like so many movies of its sort, made during the same time period, the movie relies heavily on its main characters and actors portraying them and more importantly the chemistry they have together. Spencer Tracy is perhaps not the first movie that ever comes to mind when thinking of a comedy with romantic elements in it, however he was always great in the genre, this movie included. But more importantly he and Katharine Hepburn have some great chemistry and interaction together in this movie. When you have that the story and everything else already sort of becomes secondary.
This however doesn't mean that "Adam's Rib" has a bad story though. On the contrary quite really. It's a greatly fun movie, that relies mostly on its main premise. It's also a movie with a more serious undertone under it. It's main storyline features a feminist approach and it picks some unexpected angels with the movie its story, concerning the position of women in '40's society.
In that regard this is a more relevant and provoking movie than the usual genre movies from the '40's. But above all the movie mostly remains a fun one to watch. It knows to create the right balance between its serious and deeper undertones and it's simple fun and comedy of the movie. A nice job from director George Cukor, who directed many different movies in many different genres, ranging from comedies and musical to heavy drama's.
What's remarkable about this movie is that it's filled with many long shot sequences. This takes a tremendous amount of talent and devotion from the actors. Some scene's really go on for minutes, without having a cut in it. In that way "Adam's Rib" is reminding you more of a stage-play than a movie perhaps. This only happens mostly though with the sequences between Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.
A real great movie, that is fun but also has plenty of depth to it, without it ever going at the expense of the movie its entertainment value.
9/10
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