This anecdotal comedy is based on a book, and feels like it-the kind of mild humor book popular back then, which offered mildly humorous variations on a subject (in this case, foreigners' perspectives on the French). In fact the source book was a collection of newspaper humor columns by a French writer pretending to be a expatriate Englishman, Major Marmaduke Thompson, played here by Jack Buchanan. He offers his arch perspective on the "funny" ways of his French wife ("Lola Montes'" Martine Carol), acquaintances, and society in general. Noel-Noel plays a purportedly typical Frenchman to illustrate these ideas.
Surprisingly, this movie was apparently a considerable success in France (it was shot in both English and French), though it didn't do well elsewhere, and is mostly (if somewhat unfairly) remembered now as Preston Sturges' final flop. Perhaps the French version made the English more the butt of the joke. In the English-language version, the fun had at the expense of both nationalities is so mild the film just doesn't develop much of a notable viewpoint, let alone comic energy or narrative momentum. It's not dire (I'd say Sturges' prior flop "The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend" is more of an overt misfire, because it tries so hard and falls flat), but it's just tepidly amusing.
Though Sturges was well-traveled and fluent in French, this theme just doesn't bring out the boisterous self-confidence seen in nearly all his American films. His U.S. stock company is sorely missed; though everyone here is competent, they often seem to be working in different idioms, from boulevard comedy to farce to crude slapstick.
Admittedly, in this period comedies about culture clash tended to paint those cultures in unimaginatively stereotypical terms, something that "Funny Race" doesn't transcend. And it's not entirely fair to judge this film on the basis of an 80-minute, TV-print-looking cut of the English version. (For all I know, that may have been the length at which it was released overseas-in France, it was 105 minutes.) But on the evidence, this isn't an underrated Sturges (like "Sin of Harold Diddlebock" aka "Mad Wednesday," which was also only available in inferior prints for many years), but one that merits its reputation as no disgrace but a disappointment nonetheless.
