Youthful Father Chuck O'Malley led a colorful life of sports, song, and romance before joining the Roman Catholic clergy. After being appointed to a run-down New York parish, O'Malley's worldly knowledge helps him connect with a gang of boys looking for direction, eventually winning over the aging, conventional Parish priest.
Major thread of gaiety runs through the proceedings, and McCarey has liberally sprinkled sparkling individual episodes along the way for cinch audience reaction.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
28 Jan 2008
fresh:
It offers, in the performance of nutcracker-faced, 56-year-old Barry Fitzgerald, the finest, funniest and most touching portrayal of old age that has yet reached the screen.
– James Agee,
TIME Magazine,
17 Feb 2009
rotten:
There's nothing special or memorable about this overlong endeavor, the first of two motion pictures to feature Bing Crosby's insufferably noble Father Chuck O'Malley.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
31 Aug 2010
fresh:
Paramount may have made a more appealing, more tenderly human and amusing picture than "Going My Way," during its many years of film-making, but if so, I have missed it.