This movie seems at first to be almost feminist for the time. Doris Day's character is a housewife who has always wanted to be an actress. When she finally gets a role in a soap commercial, her husband (played by James Garner) can't stand it. He believes that she should be perfectly contented with being a housewife. He gives her a tough time about not being at home constantly and she goes out of her way to try to be home. Even going to the extreme of taking photoshoots in their bedroom. James Garner's character is a doctor who delivers babies (this is important later on) and is not home very often so he is even more frustrated when she isnt there. While at the hospital he hears a woman say "there's nothing more fulfilling to a woman than having a baby. He decides he wants to get his wife pregnant but gets frustrated when he drives his car into the new pool that the wife got from her soap company. As the story progresses, the husband tries to make Doris Day's character have a break down at work but pretending to have an affair and going to great lengths to portray it as such. The wife does have a breakdown on live television and makes a fool of herself. She starts to doubt herself even more. In the end Doris helps James deliver a baby and the baby "fulfills her". She has never felt this close to her husband (because he does this every day). She decides that she wants to be a doctor's wife again (apperantly she was no longer his wife when she got a job) and leaves acting behind her.
Review of The Thrill of It All
