caught off guard

Rating: 9/10 (31 July 2005)

i caught this movie about a quarter of the way in on turner classic movies recently and figured i'd watch it. i knew that if was often listed as the funniest movie ever made and i was skeptical that a movie could be funnier than my beloved airplane! most of my experience with older comedies has not been that great. with the exceptions of the three stooges and dr strangelove it seemed that the older a comedy way the less funny it seemed. this would not be the case with duck soup. quite a number of decent site gags a a round number of dated jokes that fell flat were terrifically overwhelmed by the rapid fire linguistic judo of groucho. and even harpo's silent bit worked a lot better than i ever expected it to. the film seems to exist in a cynical hyperspace when viewed next to some of it's other contemporary output. at turns it is absurdest, surreal, cynical, and out and out wacky (couldn't think of a better word) i'd recommend this to anyone who appreciates the finer points of HOW comedy works. timing is impeccable.
9 out of 10