The ultimate tragicomedy - and one of the most original films ever made.

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2001)

I laughed from the sheer fact that this film was bringing to the surface things I had known for years. A film like this should not be taken seriously quite simply because it evokes such strange insights that after you've seen it, you'd better bury them all again or a demented monster will emerge. But, god, is it funny!
Stanley Kubrick follows his own code of originality. His films are meant to be original ways of looking at the world. They are not designed to be pieces of entertainment. He is like the most art house of all Hollywood directors. He has this inane ability to allow people to take things seriously, whether it be about a doomsday device or a bunch of monkeys bashing skeletons with a bone. Let's face it. If Kubrick hadn't directed those films, without the symbolisim he applies, they would have been absolute messes of gargantuan proportions.
Dr. Strangelove is the most insane, stupid idea. It's a spoof movie. It's like the works of the Zucker/Abrams/Zucker company or the Austin Powers movies. The ideas evoked are just as silly. But Kubrick knows how to direct an idea like this. His genius makes this not only watchable, but one the best films I have ever seen. People underestimate movies like these, because they take well-known cliches and turn them into statling works of originality. Why do you think people like George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Krzystof Kieslowski and, yes, Stanley Kubrick, have never won an Oscar? The ones who are teased are the ones to watch, I think.
One other thing: Peter Sellers. Good god. Who can possibly deny his genius?