Review of Duck Soup (1933) by Eva C — 03 May 2009

The format is simple; somebody says something and the Marx brothers make a clever joke about it. I didn't count, but I'd probably guess there's at least 200 gags like this in a movie that's not even 90 minutes long. You'd think this would get old quick, but you'll be laughing the whole way through. I think this can be credited, aside from the Marx brothers' genius, to both the setting of the movie and the fact that the â??plotâ?? yields itself to their hilarious behavior. Like, its not as if the way they act is a soliloquy out of the overall flow, it actually bends the plot in certain ways. I wouldn't say this is an anti-war film, because that would be implying that there's an actual theme. Instead I see war and politicians as other things for the brothers to parody and poke fun at.

The last fifteen minutes are non-stop hilarious, and I really don't want to have spoiling it for anybody on my conscious, so I won't. When you see it, you'll know.