When Judy Garland was offered the part of Esther Smith in this film, she took it even though she thought her character was lifeless and childish. This turned out to be a good move for Garland, even though the whole movie did turn out to be a thoroughly vapid affair.
The movie tells of the life of the Smith family in turn of the century St Louis through the seasons of the year. The Smiths are presented as the model all-American family going through all-American travails. Esther and her sister Rose spend their time chasing boys, their younger sisters frolic and play, and their father frets over making enough money. His decision to move to New York to take advantage of a job offer thereby disrupting his family's picture-perfect life forms the core of the film, along with Esther's romance with the "boy next door." In the end Rose and Esther get the boys they are each after, the father decides to stay in St. Louis, and the World's Fair comes to town, demonstrating that they don't have to go to a big city like New York to have enjoyable and accomplished lives.
The movie was meant to be the ultimate escape, presenting an idealized, sentimentalized view of the American family during the hard times of World War II, a goal it accomplishes admirably well. Perhaps too well. The characters are oversentimentalized to the point of caricature, and the situations they find themselves in are usually dull or predictable. Though it is commendable for Hollywood to try to escape the then-predominant goal-and-obstacle formula, this film sorely needs a strong narrative to carry its paper-thin characters through its two hour length. The musical numbers are static and uninteresting to watch and do not make the film any better, even though some of the songs are quite good.
The only things that make this film watchable are Margaret O'Brien's as well as Judy Garland's performance and Vincente Minnelli's direction. Like the bright pastel and candy colors the film employs, Meet Me in St. Louis oozes sicky-sweetness; watching it is like eating several pounds of skittles within two hours.
The movie tells of the life of the Smith family in turn of the century St Louis through the seasons of the year. The Smiths are presented as the model all-American family going through all-American travails. Esther and her sister Rose spend their time chasing boys, their younger sisters frolic and play, and their father frets over making enough money. His decision to move to New York to take advantage of a job offer thereby disrupting his family's picture-perfect life forms the core of the film, along with Esther's romance with the "boy next door." In the end Rose and Esther get the boys they are each after, the father decides to stay in St. Louis, and the World's Fair comes to town, demonstrating that they don't have to go to a big city like New York to have enjoyable and accomplished lives.
The movie was meant to be the ultimate escape, presenting an idealized, sentimentalized view of the American family during the hard times of World War II, a goal it accomplishes admirably well. Perhaps too well. The characters are oversentimentalized to the point of caricature, and the situations they find themselves in are usually dull or predictable. Though it is commendable for Hollywood to try to escape the then-predominant goal-and-obstacle formula, this film sorely needs a strong narrative to carry its paper-thin characters through its two hour length. The musical numbers are static and uninteresting to watch and do not make the film any better, even though some of the songs are quite good.
The only things that make this film watchable are Margaret O'Brien's as well as Judy Garland's performance and Vincente Minnelli's direction. Like the bright pastel and candy colors the film employs, Meet Me in St. Louis oozes sicky-sweetness; watching it is like eating several pounds of skittles within two hours.