"Mama Steps Out" has two very good Hollywood supporting actors in the lead roles. Guy Kibbee plays Leonard 'Len' Cuppy, and Alice Brady plays his wife, Ada. The wealthy couple and their daughter, Leila, are going to Europe to live for six months. It's Ada's dream for them to get away from the Americans in their home town of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and meet, mix and mingle with Europeans. She wants them to absorb some "real" culture. Other reviews mention that this is a takeoff from the 1936 movie, "Dodsworth."
A second plot is Leila's crush since high school on Chuck Thompson, a hometown boy who has succeeded as a singer with a band that tours on the performing circuit. The band and singer happen to be on the ship the Cuppy's are taking to Europe, so Leila makes sure that they stay where the band and Chuck are appearing. Much to Ada's consternation, that means leaving Paris behind and going to the Riviera where Chuck and the band perform at a casino in Antibes.
Leila keeps chasing after Chuck, who keeps rebuffing and trying to avoid her. And Ada keeps sending hubby Len to the Casino to bring back a Frenchman or two. When they finally do have three younger people of the nuevo (swinging) culture visit, the trio bring a little mayhem to the household which leads the French chef and maid to go on strike.
There isn't much plot here, and the screenplay bounces around quite a bit. Kibbee and Brady are very good in their roles. Brady won the supporting actress Oscar in 1938 for portraying Molly O'Leary in the 20th Century Fox blockbuster, "In Old Chicago." An all-around good actress, Brady excelled in one type of character. She could play a discombobulated, harried, and frenzied woman within comedies better than anyone else. Her role in this film isn't as funny as in some others. Perhaps the best example of that is her role as Bridget Drake in the 1933 film, "When Ladies Meet." Brady would die of cancer within two years of this film, at age 46.
The best thing about this film, though, is the singing of newcomer Dennis Morgan. He had a great singing voice, although he didn't pursue singing parts much beyond this film. He did play Irish tenor Chauncey Olcott in the 1947 movie about his life, "My Wild Irish rose." This was Morgan's seventh film and biggest part to that time. He was then going by his real name, as Stanley Morner. By 1940, Morgan was getting leading roles at Warner Brothers, and his role opposite Ginger Rogers in "Kitty Foyle" of 1940 (for which she won the best actress Oscar the next year), lifted Morgan to star status the rest of his career.
With a tighter and better screenplay and much better script with witty and funny dialog, this could have been a very good comedy. But, there are so few instances of anything funny, that it doesn't even get a fair rating for comedy.
