Hot Water (1924)
Fun, Resourceful Comedy
6 December 2005
This Harold Lloyd comedy is fun and resourceful, squeezing a surprising amount of material out of a couple of simple ideas. The situations are simple and the plot is nearly non-existent, but the characters are entertaining and there are lots of props and gag ideas that are used creatively, with everything helped along by Lloyd's energy and expert timing.

The story is essentially three different loosely-connected sequences. Harold goes on a shopping trip and has all kinds of difficulty on a streetcar, then he takes his in-laws on a tumultuous ride in his new car, and then he faces some unsettling domestic disturbances. Each sequence has a slightly different feel, and uses Lloyd's character in somewhat different ways, giving him a chance to perform a number of different comedy ideas.

Josephine Crowell as the mother-in-law makes a good antagonist, and Charles Stevenson strikes the right note as the oafish brother-in-law. Jobyna Ralston doesn't get the chance to do a lot of comedy, but she is engaging as always.

It's good comedy, and it builds things up fairly well. There are many details that are used once for their own sake, and that then return in the frenzied climactic sequence, and some of the ideas are pretty clever. It's often deliberately far-fetched, and in a manner that comes off rather well.
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