Review of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) by Jay R — 02 Apr 2012

You know, when you are a movie critic it is inevitable that there will be movies that are considered classics that I will not enjoy or admire. Dr. Strangelove unfortunately happens to be one of those movies. The satire in this movie is only mildly amusing and any excitement in the movie is killed by unnecessarily ridiculous camerawork, achingly slow procedural scenes and speeches that mean absolutely nothing. I found myself falling in and out of consciousness as I could not wait for this so called satire to end. I understand this movie is trying to make light of a serious situation at the time and there are some mildly amusing and interesting scenes, but to what end. I was turned off a lot by the ridiculous overacting, the twisted characters, and Kubrick losing himself in his own madness. Kubrick has missed the mark because the satire is not relatable or even amusing, even when the people are acting crazy or strange, I met it with silence. Peter Sellers is good in his 3 roles, but his assistant to the general persona is unneeded and pointless. George C Scott I was not impressed with. The hysterical general who always seems as if he has had one too many Red Bulls just didn't register with me. He wasn't funny, he wasn't serious, so what was he? This was odd, I knew this was a satire, yet nothing clicked with intelligence or dark wit. Food for thought is key for movies like this, and the food expired ages ago. Dr. Strangelove barely has a pulse as it tries to bombard you with its spoof-like approach. Not only is it not funny, dark or exciting, but there is nothing that you can take from this seemingly unending 90 minutes. Bring it on trolls.

I have always been a fan of Kubrick, and since this guy did A Clockwork Orange, I was very excited and eager to see what Kubrick could bring to the table in his early years. Sadly, this must have been a time when he was still learning. Kubrick mistakes shaking the camera for excitement which instead comes off as over-direction. It almost seems as if everything Kubrick is doing is trying to breathe life into the film. Who can blame him? This film is so incredibly dull I was in shock that Kubrick was even involved. Why this is considered a class I will never understand. However as usual, Kubrick always brings his nice sweeping direction to the table. But it is all for nothing, Kubrick couldn't save this movie if his life depended upon it. After the movies abrupt ending and nice music, I was in a celebratory state. Instead of playing this movie straight, lets gets some more backstory on the subjects. Yes this is the cold war, but why has the general all of a sudden gone mad? But I think just the question of why is enough for me to rebel against all the critics on this one. This is an exercise in madness, but even madness has some sanity if you dig deep enough. This barely scratches the surface of anything humane and the situations are so unbelievable even in satirical form.

Perhaps this movie isn't atoned to my sense of humour. Fair enough, what is there to admire here. Well the sets are nicely made and I was very impress by Peter Sellers being able to play three roles as he was very unrecognizable from person to person. But like Sellers this movie is all over the place. Dr Strangelove fails to impress on any level and can pass as only mild amusement. Everything else goes up in smoke.