The film begins with New York City crowds living their lives in the 1950s. Then it switches to a guy named Nathan Detroit, who is a gambler.

He is trying to organize a bunch of unlicensed games. However, the police catch him. More specifically, their head, Lieutenant Brannigan, claims that he and the cops are “putting on the heat.”

If that’s not bad enough, many places that Nathan enjoys going to are turning him away because of the police. At some point, he is offered a chance to hold a game thanks to the Biltmore Garage. However, they require a $1000 deposit, which he doesn’t have.

Later, Nathan’s fiancée, Adelaide, who is a nightclub singer, joins him for dinner. They have been engaged for 14 years. Despite her happy personality, Adelaide convinces Nathan to get his act together since he is pretty much only good at illegal gambling.

Not long after, Nathan meets this famous man, Sky Masterson, who also is an old acquaintance. In order to obtain $1000, Nathan bets Sky that he cannot take a lady of his choosing to Havana, Cuba.  He eventually nominates Sergeant Sarah Brown, who is part of a religious organization, Save a Soul Mission. They are against gambling.

Sky pretends that he has a bad gambling problem in order to meet Sarah. But once he meets her, he develops romantic feelings for her. Yet she does not love him. She even kicks him out of the building.

However, General Matilda Cartwright announces that Mission’s Broadway branch will soon close due to low attendance. So, Sarah decides to date Sky.

Meanwhile, Nathan has gathered a bunch of gamblers, confident that he will win the bet. One of them includes a guy that everyone calls Big Jule, who is a mobster. However, they get caught by Lieutenant Brannigan. Nathan claims that they are celebrating his engagement to Adelaide. This causes him to lose the bet and have no choice but to marry Adelaide.

While on their date in Cuba, Sarah and Sky begin to fall in love. Things progress in a good direction… until a certain point. The cops come, and Nathan and his gamblers escape before they can get arrested.

Meanwhile, Adelaide is suffering at her nightclub performances. Not only has she had a cold for a while, but she is upset that Nathan did not show up.

Nathan is resuming his game in a sewer. However, he is convinced to cheat.

Stakes are rising.

I will admit that this film was not exactly my cup of tea. The pacing was slow and the story was hard to follow. Yes, it is important for it to be told from two characters’ points of view. But I wish the filmmakers figured out a way to make it easier to follow.

Another issue is that there were a lot of characters. A good number of them looked similar. It was hard to keep track of who was who.

Tension levels did get high at times. But I was rarely worried about something terrible happening.

I’ll also be honest—a lot of the musical numbers were not the most exciting. However, there were some exceptions. The song, “I’ll Know,” sung by Sarah and Sky was quite beautiful. The other, “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat,” sung by a guy known as “Nicely-Nicely” was very fun.

I also liked Adelaide as a character. She wasn’t tough or harsh. She mainly had a positive attitude and a joyful personality.

I admired how she would write to her parents in Rhode Island and say that she was already married with kids. One was “Nathan Junior” who was “at Boarding School.” This not only adds some humor but also depicts how women were expected to live at that time.

Sarah was also memorable with her no-nonsense attitude. However, many of the other characters had little distinguishment in their development.

Overall, Guys and Dolls turned out to be just okay. There were some twists and turns in it, which is a plus. But the pros and cons were pretty much even.

Another important factor to know is that this film is not rated. However, it does have some mild and minimal profanity. So, I’d recommend viewers be at least 10 years old.

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.