Surprisingly, she takes a shine to Buster, despite the presence of Stagg (Harold Goodwin), an co-worker of Sally who has staked a claim to her. Naturally, Stagg is much bigger than Buster, and takes an instant dislike to him.
The courageous but inept Buster is turned down for an MGM job by office manager Sidney Bracy, but Sally encourages him to loiter around hoping for a scoop that will lead to film he can sell. Buster's big chance arrives when a Chinese parade turns into a rival gang war, and only Buster is on the scene. About this time he also acquires a monkey, who turns out to be a loyal assistant to his hapless master.
Skits include frequent run-ins with suspicious street cop Harry Gribbon, and a memorable close encounter in a bath house dressing room with burly Edward Brophy.
How others will see it. Classic movie fans cherish this silent comedy feature, one of the last that Keaton made. The film was commercially unsuccessful, and was considered lost until a print was found in 1968. Since then it has been added to the National Film Registry, and has impressive user ratings at imdb.com. Remarkably, women aged 45+ give it a 9.6 out of 10. Presumably, this is because of the character of Sally, who is considerably more assertive than the typical silent era girlfriend.
How I felt about it. Your acceptance of this film may indeed pivot on your acceptance of Sally. She shows up at the bath house, and is immediately surrounded by a dozen young men. Any woman with that much drawing power would be unlikely to choose Buster, who can be described (with admitted cruelty) as a loser or schmuck. That he turns out to be courageous is something she could never have known until the final reel.
If, for the sake of a cinematic happy ending, we accept that Buster gets the perfect woman, this still doesn't explain how (or why) he happened to be on the lake at the same time as Stagg and his overpowered speedboat. It doesn't explain how Buster was able to purchase a monkey with pocket change. And New York City seems to have had a number of ticker tape parades in 1928.
Credibility isn't everything, however. It is a comedy, after all. Keaton doesn't direct this time (the honor goes to Edward Sedgwick) but undoubtedly he came up with a number of the gags, such as the dime bank that won't break, the dressing room tussle, the reflex exchange with the beat cop, and (my favorite) the open air bus seat. The cinematography is at times impressive, especially the pan shot showing Buster running up and down flights of stairs. His character certainly has stamina, but that's true love for you, at least in the movies.