Yuk!

Rating: 2/10 (30 March 2005)

Recently having discovered the brilliance of Chaplin, I decided to check out the Marx brothers 1933 classic Duck Soup. Supposedly being a political satire, I expected something along the line of The Great Dictator (1940) or All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). However, here the satire is neither poignant nor at the forefront. What is at the forefront is jokes and wordplays - and not very good ones at that, told like your fast-tongued slightly drunk uncle would tell them. The characters and the story serves as nothing but a vehicle for countless of these jokes and, I must admit, some decent silent movie-type physical comedy by Harpo.
Admittedly, Duck soup is more than 70 years old, and not knowing how it was perceived by Americans in the thirties I might be unfair in my criticism since I lack personal experience of that time and place. Some movies make sense at the time of their release but seem hopelessly dated after a decade or two. If I had to guess how Duck Soup originally was perceived I would say that it was considered to be cheeky and daring. Today it is not.