(Review originally written at 16 May 2008)
This is one crazy hilarious comedy that also knows to be quite different and original from other genre comedies made in the same era.
It's however a movie with a very simply story of course That's why I can't really understand how one could rate this a perfect 10 out of 10. Basically the only purpose for the movie its story is to provide the movie with as many comical moments as possible, often without making much sense or making an obvious connection with other moments within the movie. It of course doesn't make the movie any less hilarious, on the contrary but it just is a reason why I simply can not rate this movie a perfect 10 out of 10, no matter how funny the movie is.
The movie is like a non-stop fast going comical movie with some crazy and well thought out moments. What makes this movie mostly different from other comedies made during the same time period is that the movie doesn't restrain itself to one location with only a few characters. New hilarious characters constantly pop up and it constant change of locations provides the movie with many different comical moments, of which some are simply pure classics. No wonder that the movie has so many and so many different comical moments in it, when you look at how many (uncredited) writers the movie had. The main story itself was based on a play, written by W.C. Fields himself. He also made the movie "It's the Old Army Game" prior to this, which features some of the same story elements as this movie but is still very different enough to not call this movie an actual remake of "It's the Old Army Game".
The acting is also absolutely top class, with comedy actors W.C. Fields and Kathleen Howard in the movie its main leads, who also have some great interactions together as husband and wife.
The movie doesn't take any sideways, which it easily could had done with for instance the plot line between Jean Rouverol and Julian Madison. I think it's a positive thing that it didn't, since it keeps the movie simple and pleasant without having to be bothered by needless plot lines and distracting romantic elements.
The humor often seems to come very random into the movie and seem to have very little to do with the actual movie itself. Yet the movie picks a more realistic and humane approach with its characters, so an approach that doesn't try to be funny with its characters, which only strengthens even more the silly random comedy within this movie. It's not only a physical funny comedy, it's also a movie with some great fun written dialog.
A great and refreshing '30's comedy!
9/10
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