James Stewart is Rip Smith, an ambitious pollster in search of an easy life. Instead of canvassing the whole country, he thinks, wouldn't it be better if a mathematically perfect town could be made to represent the views of all America?

He finds his particular utopia in Grandview, an apple-cheeked, picket-fenced kind of place, stuffed with unfeasibly good natured teenagers and respectable estate agents. His arrival - undercover, but scarcely incognito - is noted by the unusually beautiful town planner (Jane Wyman) who, besides editing the local newspaper, has a grander view for Grandview in mind.

Rip and the editor flutter at each other over the civic amenities. Rip gets uncovered, though never naked, and some respectable small town mayhem ensues.

It is, admittedly, tough to write a catchy romantic comedy about opinion polls and traffic planning. It was pretty bloody minded of the scriptwriter Robert Riskin to try. It invites implausibility - insurrection over a vox-pop? uproar over an amenity site? - and, though Stewart and Wyman carry off their roles with panache, it is difficult to imagine anyone whispering, "I love you," over a copy of US sewerage bye-laws in real life.

Nevertheless, Magic Town takes these unpromising ingredients and makes, if not quite a gripping and unmissable movie, then, at least, something sparky enough to remain watchable. Stewart helps things along with his particular brand of unassailable insouciance and Wyman - she later married Ronald Reagan, a fact which may, or may not, say something about her competence for politics - provides a good foil for his eternally wonderful life.

This is easy Sunday afternoon viewing and though the plot may be incredible, the safe hands style is not. If nothing else, Magic Town is worth watching just for the spectacle of a group of Jimmy Dean adolescents marching on the town hall to demand a new school.