Review of What's Up, Doc? (1950) by Troy F — 23 Jan 2015

What's Up Doc is best described as a take on Bringing Up Baby, but with more crazy conflicts thrown in. 4 people each with a similar handbag containing different valuables book rooms at the same hotel.

One of these people Judy, a woman of walking disaster wherever she goes, takes interest in one of the other guys Howard, a rock expert of sorts there to meet a doctor and get a sort of grant. Of course, Judy steps and pretends to be his wife without consent, which causes his trouble with his real wife gets him into a lot of unwanted trouble.

Not only that but the bags get mixed up, never knowing which one is what. So the whole film is a game of cat-and-mouse and screwball hijinks. It's the sort of film that is obnoxious at first, but it really gets funny and it's great because everything is all over the map, people spying on others, chasing after bags, hiding secrets, and everyone being just as confused as you are! Barbara Streisand is loose, goofy and charming at once, seemingly likeable for a character who's annoying and oblivious to all the trouble she causes.

I don't want to compare to Bringing Up Baby because they all do their own thing, but I enjoyed this one more because of how high the stakes are raised, as chaos spreads from Judy that starts a hilarious never-ending chain reaction of disasters, especially a classic car chase scene that parodies Bullitt but takes it to a whole new level! They really don't make films like this anymore, What's Up Doc is a pleasure to watch, and would watch this again!