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How to Be Very, Very Popular is a mildly amusing by-the-numbers comedy that needed more imaginative treatment than it received to be the entertaining piece of fluff it wants to be; Billy Wilder would demonstrate how to do the artists-on-the-run-from-gangsters concept the right way a few years later in Some Like It Hot. Extremely dated, many modern viewers will find much of the humor sexist and unfunny, and the lack of convincing characters helps to point up the episodic nature of the plot. Fortunately, Popular does have Betty Grable, in her last film role, still giving her all and then some. Full of warmth but with a healthy dose of sass, Grable provides a lot of the glue that holds the picture together. Co-star Sheree North does not come off as well; most of the time she is fine but bland, although this may be due to the fact that she was clearly instructed to model her performance after Marilyn Monroe (who forcefully rejected the role) rather than to let her own talent shine through. North, however, is responsible for the film's undeniable highlight, an incredible "Shake, Rattle and Roll" that really raises the rafters. Charles Coburn also has provides some comic relief, as does Orson Bean, although his style of humor may be an acquired taste for some.