A Possible Moral to the Madcap

Rating: Null/10 (21 December 2013)

After 200+ reviews, what's left to say. Nothing much, except such an outrageous comedy could only have emerged from the free-wheeling 60's. Actually, what surprises me is the relative absence of sex, unless romance with giggly 80-year olds qualifies. But then neither Mostel nor Wilder is exactly an answer to a maiden's dream.
What a marvelous premise the writers came up with. Producing a guaranteed flop just about makes all the subsequent insanity believable. And getting drug-addled 'LSD' (Shawn) to play Hitler makes for perfect nonsense. No doubt about it, the movie's a one-of-a-kind, outrageously funny from beginning to end and arguably Brook's best. But I shouldn't forget the moral, which appears to be submerged in all the crazy antics. Namely, sometimes celebrating life means breaking the mold and taking goofy chances as the "liberated" Leo Bloom (Wilder) demonstrates in the very last shot.