Starting a couple years earlier, RKO began a long series of short films featuring Edgar Kennedy and his family--consisting of his wife (Florence Lake), mother-in-law and brother-in-law. And while Kennedy was quite good, the wife and family were over-written. In other words, the characters came on way too strong--making you hate them and wonder who would ever put up with such hateful and obnoxious people?! I mentioned Lake in particular because her shtick was defending her awful mother and brother no matter what they did AND laughing like a brain-addled idiot throughout the film. She was SO annoyingly unfunny I can't believe the series continued until Kennedy's death in 1948!
In this installment, the three idiots decide to open a home decorating service--though they have absolutely no idea what they are doing. On their first job they draft Edgar into coming along and the idiots make the mistake of going to the wrong house. The man of the house (Arthur Houseman in a non-drunk role) hates them because they are making so much noise and spends much of the film punching Edgar. When the wife (Jane Darwell) arrives at the end, the film doesn't seem to know what to do, so she and the butler repeatedly punch each other in the face...really, I am NOT making this up!! Once again, the laughs are forced due to the awfulness and complete lack of any subtlety in the family. You spend more time hating them and wishing they were dead than laughing--and frankly the film made me appreciate Kennedy's appearances in other films as a supporting character more and more! Very forced humor--and not all that funny.
