So You Want to Be Your Own Boss

So You Want to Be Your Own Boss (1954)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent entry in the series has our beloved Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) wanting to find out what it's like to be his own boss so he actually punches his boss, rips up his social security card and opens his own restaurant. He hires Marvin as cook and things go downhill on their opening day. This isn't the best film in the long-running series but it has some rather interesting moments including Lyle Talbot showing up playing a Department of Sanitation worker. It was said that Talbot would accept any job so it was rather fun seeing him show up for a couple minutes here and he actually manages to get a few laughs. Another note is that Jane Frazee takes over the role of Alice McDoakes from Phyllis Coates who wouldn't appear again until the final two films. The comedy here isn't the strongest but we get some fairly funny moments including one very funny sequence where we get to see Marvin prepare the food and accidentally drop roach poison into it. There's another funny bit when their first customer ordering free stuff and the final gag is a very good one. As you'd expect O'Hanlon is at the top of his game and Rodney Bell also does a good job in his role of Marvin.